Second Green Bin Dublin 15 Fingal reluctance?

hangover_ie_ie

Howdy Partners, Anyone Know what the story is with getting a second green bin. I sent the following email to Fingal coco regarding this months ago

Enquiry Via Fingal coco website : Good Morning i was wondering if it is possible to get a second green bin as it is allways full before the next collection Best regards Brian

The Reply From Fingal COCO

Dear Brian
Please let us know the reason you need a 2nd green bin. In order to qualify for a 2nd green bin, there has to be a certain number of people in the household, or a medical condition which increases the amount of recycling material in your household. Once you revert to me with this information, I will pass your request on to a supervisor.


Dear _____
There are 4 adults and 1 junior in the house , the green bin fills very quickly so we end up having to fill the black bin
with recyclable waste which ends up in landfill! We have tried store up the excess for when the green bin is emptied
but as soon as this comes its full. We also bring our aluminium cans to the local bottle bank to save space in the green bin.

Best regards

Is it just me or are they extremly reluctant to give out second bins in the knowledge you will be forced to put recycleables in the black bin ensuring them of extra revenue in the form of the 8 Euro Bin tags> Why dont they want me to get a second green bin? Yes i do plan to put virtually recycle all i can. How do i QUALIFY FOR A SECOND GREEN BIN???? Ehhhh i would have thought that filling up the bin in half a week was qualification enough? Do i need 10 Adults living in the house? Its a standard semi D for crying out loud?!
Any thoughts?

Gaspode

What sort of medical condition would increase the amount of recycling you create???
Is the an illness that causes you to shed cardboard in large quantities?

Anyway, that's only 2 communications so far, I suspect you will be up in the high teens before you really begin to get any sensible answers from them as to why you cant have a second green bin.
The bottom line is there is no good reason why you cant have one - there simply is never enough space in one green bin for a family in my opinion.
I suspect they may be reluctant to give a second bin until they can figure out how much extra to charge you.

You might get more answers over in the 'Green issues' forum btw.

iMADEtheBBC

I've just had a most frustrating telephone conversation with a supervisor in FCC. She could not explain how 2 of my neighbours have managed to get a 2nd green bin.

Ours was collected yesterday. I already have enough material to refill the bin.

Unless I can get 2 more people to move into the house or if one of us has , a yet to be specified , medical condition I'm unable to get a 2nd bin.

I offered to pay for a second bin (pay the charge twice). But that's not possible.

Head>>>Wall

Andrew33

You sound like avid recyclers so this post will probably not teach you much.
I would be a good recycler (just to avoid paying the €8 black bin charge:D).
Make sure all boxes and cartons are flattened, squash all plastic bottles flat and put caps back on to keep them that way. Half way tru second week climb into your green bin and squash it down.
All it takes is a bit of effort into how you pack the stuff into the green bin.
I think if you had a second green bin you'd put even less thought and effort into how you use it.
We are a typical family and we manage with 1 bin (just about!)
It can be done!

iMADEtheBBC

Yes I do all of that. Flatten everything and like an eejit I jump on it to try and get as much in as possible. Our black bin hardly ever goes out.

As the supervisor in FCC refused to give any other option (I was told that the Admin Officer and the Director of the section would support her position that I cannot get a 2nd bin) I've called the office of the Ombudsman.

In my opinion I am being discriminated against on the basis that I do not have 7 in my family. I am also concerned that FCC is refusing to provide a service that I have offered to pay for (meaning: I'm willing to pay the service charge twice).

To follow the logic of FCC to it's conclusion why should I pay the same recycle charge as a larger family ? Why should my neighbour , with a smaller family, pay the same as me ? FCC can't have it every which way.

So, the next step is to write to FCC and get the whole thing in writing. Then the ombudsman can review and decide if they can intervene.


Or FCC could get out of 'old Ireland' and drop the intransigent old-style-civil-service attitude and simply play ball. I'm not looking for something for nothing. It beggars belief that they've got someone (a customer) willing to pay for a service and they refuse to provide it.:rolleyes:

Andrew33

Where do you stop though?
Should it be 1 bin per X number of people in household?
Can you imagine the binmen(women) agreeing to drag 2-3 bins from every house?
FCC are obviously seeing your request as the thin end of a wedge and do NOT want to go down that road.

miju

If your really stuck for a green bin. I'm around the Warrenstown area and since we swapped to Panda we've been trying to get Fingal to pick up their old bins.Your more than welcome to our one LOL

iMADEtheBBC

But Andrew this is not a charity. It's a commercial operation for Greyhound - I'm willing to pay for this. For Fingal it's a source of revenue and I'm more than happy to pay for it.

If every household needs 2 green bins then surely that is the point of the exercise ? To ensure that these materials are recycled. If that isn't success then what is ? Everyone wins: the council get the money to recycle, greyhound (or whoever gets the contract) have income and can pay employees, the environment is helped by additional recycling.

I'm going to pursue this. My neighbour would qualify because they have more children than me. That's discrimination. Ironically my neighbour doesn't care and just chucks the additional recylcable materials into their black bin.

iMADEtheBBC

miju wrote: »

If your really stuck for a green bin. I'm around the Warrenstown area and since we swapped to Panda we've been trying to get Fingal to pick up their old bins.Your more than welcome to our one LOL

You're very kind.

I wonder if Panda would allow me to pay for additional recycling.

iMADEtheBBC

iMADEtheBBC wrote: »

I wonder if Panda would allow me to pay for additional recycling.

Yes. I just emailed them and got a fast response

Yes we would be able to supply you with a second green bin it would be €25 per annun to rent the second one off us. All our prices are 20% cheaper than the county council.

Screw the council. If they want to play silly buggers I'm not going to waste (geddit?) my time with them.

daymobrew

Email your local councillors to ask for help.
Ask FCC for a list of medical conditions that will permit you to get a 2nd bin. And how many adults are needed.

hangover_ie_ie

I changed to panda last week best thing i ever did. Unlike the Council who empty my bin and sling it down the road... panda collected it from my side lane way and returned them neatly to the side ! I was surprised.

miju

Panda are great TBH and couldnt recommend them enough. Apart from the fact they are over €500 cheaper than fingal Panda collect green & black bins each week and the brown and black bins every second week.

Phoenix3

miju wrote: »

If your really stuck for a green bin. I'm around the Warrenstown area and since we swapped to Panda we've been trying to get Fingal to pick up their old bins.Your more than welcome to our one LOL

If you have a spare bin I would appreciate it and collect at your convenience.

Thanks

P3

miju

Phoenix3 wrote: »

If you have a spare bin I would appreciate it and collect at your convenience.

Thanks

P3

I've a green and black bin that Fingal dont want to collect so you more than welcome to them anytime.Just PM me with your number.

central

OP - I wonder if a neighbour who has a smaller family than yours, or even a one person household, would they consider "sharing" their green bin with you? Maybe you could offer them a small fee in return?

iMADEtheBBC

After you switched to Panda were you able to get a (partial) refund from Fingal for the annual collection charge?

Turbulent Bill

iMADEtheBBC wrote: »

If every household needs 2 green bins then surely that is the point of the exercise ? To ensure that these materials are recycled. If that isn't success then what is ? Everyone wins: the council get the money to recycle, greyhound (or whoever gets the contract) have income and can pay employees, the environment is helped by additional recycling.

Environmentally the best option is to reduce waste overall, both to landfill and recycling, and I'm guessing that the Fingal's long-term policy reflects this (haven't checked though). The introduction of black bin charges has cut the volume of waste going to landfill, mainly because people are aware of the cost involved. Lots of the displaced waste is now going in the green bin instead, which is perceived as 'free', and this will eventully put pressure on the service. Together with people requesting bins for spurious reasons (storage etc.), I can see why Fingal is reluctant to provide more bins.

Don't take this the wrong way - I applaud you and the other poster's efforts at recycling, and I can see the problem where there's an irreducible volume of recyclables. However the motto of 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' still stands - reduce whatever you can to a minimum, reuse this if possible and then only recycle the remainder.

Nevyn

Can't see it happening when the contents of the green bins are sold over seas for the most part for incineration to create electricty.

Gaspode

Whatever about the councils long term plans ( if they have any!), once you get people to reduce the amount of recyclables they put in the landfill bin, you are obliged to then provide them with sufficient means of presenting that material for recycling.

IMO the green bin should be collected at least weekly, and the black bin fortnightly or even monthly.
Personally, I dont use the brown bin so I've no comment on that.
It takes me a month or more to even get a black bag full for the landfill, but could fill one of those green bins in a week!