SDCC announces privatiztion of waste collection

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Waste Collection Customer Announcement (Update 21st March)


South Dublin County Council today (Friday 18th) announced that it has reached agreement with Greyhound Recycling & Recovery Limited for the sale of its residential and commercial black and brown bin waste collection service. Updated 21st March
Greyhound Recycling & Recovery have published a press release on the agreement.

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previous update
The agreement was reached following an ongoing process to evaluate our options for providing a sustainable waste collection service to our customers and a competitive process involving a number of waste management companies operating in the private sector.

South Dublin County Council would like to reassure its customers that the transfer to the service to Greyhound Recycling & Recovery Limited will not give rise to any change in your current arrangements and we will write to all existing waste collection customers in the coming days to explain how the transfer process to Greyhound Recycling & Recovery Limited will take place.

It is important that you remain a customer of the Council to avail of any offers which may be available under the new Provider and any such offers will be announced shortly.



Will eventually see the end of the waiver system as per what has already happenned in Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown.Another stealth tax.

unkel

Good stuff. The private companies have proven that they can do the waste collections more cleanly and reliably for less costs. No point in having overpaid civil servants (and their even more overpaid and overpensioned civil servant overlords) do the work subsidised by the tax payer.

I've been with citybin since they started in Lucan and I can't honestly say one negative thing about them.

ScouseMouse

Fair plays to the council on this. I hear there is a new manager who came in, and was shocked at the carry on they saw. As people have economised, they are not putting their bins out as much. But there was an agreement that when the run was done, the lads could go home.

Said manager saw some binmen putting taxi plates on the roof of their cars outside the gates, after doing a couple of hours, and queried it. It was quite legit, they had done their rounds and were free to go with a full days wages.

The council were locked into all these agreements when times were better. Now the money isnt there, they were losing large amounts of money.

Tell me though, was there any mention of the payoff, or disruption money the current bin men are getting at our expense. I was told, but I cannot remember EXACTLY, so as I am unsure, I am not saying it. If I don't know for sure, I dont say it.

AND BEFORE ANYONE ASKS. I am not telling you who I know in the council.

emo72

another thing that my taxes used to pay for. now i pay more tax and still i have to pay for this. everything will be privatised and we will stay pay taxes.

if only we could privatise the government, civil service and the councils.

Maybe SDCC customers will have their bins collected on bank holidays now. And during inclement weather. I can't remember City Bin not collecting bins during the recent bad snow and ice where SDCC bins weren't collected for a couple of weeks.

lord lucan

foreign wrote: »

Maybe SDCC customers will have their bins collected on bank holidays now. And during inclement weather. I can't remember City Bin not collecting bins during the recent bad snow and ice where SDCC bins weren't collected for a couple of weeks.

Yep,they were terrible during the snow events last December. I seen City Bin Co. and Thorntons around my estate during the snow but no sign of SDCC.

I also hope that they make proper use of the brown bins. I tried to use them after they were delivered last Autumn but their insistence on no bin liners meant i had a massive maggot and fly problem after a couple of weeks! DCC and most of the other providers encourage liner use but not SDCC. I washed the bin out and left it out the back garden never to be used again.

average_runner

Dont get your hope up over greyhound! They are useless to say the least.

The council drove in our estate along with Thortons and City Bin, but greyhound refused and didnt collect our green bins!


When the snow was gone, we put our green bin out and a box neatly packed beside it and they just emptied the bin and laughed at the other box. Even after I asked them to take it!!

Move to City bin, who so far are brillant.

TheBigLebowski

emo72 wrote: »

another thing that my taxes used to pay for. now i pay more tax and still i have to pay for this. everything will be privatised and we will stay pay taxes.

if only we could privatise the government, civil service and the councils.

Unfortunately my taxes have also been used to pay for your bins too. Seeing as I have had to pay for private collections for years just because I don't live in the city.

ScouseMouse

spoke to my buddy again and it looks like the lads have to be compensated for work practice changes. FOURTY GRAND !! (approx)

However it is only being paid in two installments. I am mad I have to work for a living - unlike some people. The gas thing is, its us ultimately paying. some people would call it compensation, some disruption money and others just plain bribery!

unkel

superscouse wrote: »

spoke to my buddy again and it looks like the lads have to be compensated for work practice changes. FOURTY GRAND !! (approx)

However it is only being paid in two installments. I am mad I have to work for a living - unlike some people. The gas thing is, its us ultimately paying. some people would call it compensation, some disruption money and others just plain bribery!

Why do these practises remain unchallenged? I doubt there's any legal basis for compensating civil servants for accepting different roles once their previous job is no longer there. Shouldn't they be grateful they are indeed offered a different role? In the private sector they would have just been made redundant. No offer of another role. No compensation.

ScouseMouse

unkel wrote: »

Why do these practises remain unchallenged? I doubt there's any legal basis for compensating civil servants for accepting different roles once their previous job is no longer there. Shouldn't they be grateful they are indeed offered a different role? In the private sector they would have just been made redundant. No offer of another role. No compensation.

Get a grip unkel.

Its the public/civil services we are talking about here. There is no such thing as cop-on just:
the union wont accept this,
thats not in my contract,
we have an agreement.

It doesnt make one bit of difference that the world has changed and jobs-for-life, with no accountability, are gone.

unkel

superscouse wrote: »

Get a grip unkel.

Its the public/civil services we are talking about here. There is no such thing as cop-on

If only I could be Enda the Terrible for a few years

average_runner

TheBigLebowski wrote: »

Unfortunately my taxes have also been used to pay for your bins too. Seeing as I have had to pay for private collections for years just because I don't live in the city.

Sorry but are people not currently paying for their bins to be collected even by the council. So no ones taxes are paying for it now or over the last 5 years!


Private companies are cheaper though

unkel

average_runner wrote: »

Sorry but are people not currently paying for their bins to be collected even by the council.

Yes indeed people are paying for their bins to be collected

average_runner wrote: »

So no ones taxes are paying for it now or over the last 5 years!

You're assuming that people pay the full costs of the council bin collection. They don't. They only pay a token fee that won't cover even a fraction of the public service pensions alone of the staff employed by the council

So yes, the difference between the token fee and the full costs is indeed paid by the taxpayer...

In the private sector when you pay for the service and it turns out the service costs more than you paid for it, the owner of the company pays for the difference, not the tax payer

Why do people think the problem is with the workers? If you think they have/had it handy why didn't you join up? Or is getting up at stupid o'clock to haul other peoples sh1te too much like hard work for you? Fúcking hate this public sector bashing bullsh1t. The jobs were open to everybody and we all knew the benefits.

average_runner

foreign wrote: »

Why do people think the problem is with the workers? If you think they have/had it handy why didn't you join up? Or is getting up at stupid o'clock to haul other peoples sh1te too much like hard work for you? Fúcking hate this public sector bashing bullsh1t. The jobs were open to everybody and we all knew the benefits.

People just want a fair system for all, and because the country is bankrupt, proper measures should be taken and the public service needs to be run as a private service is to be fair to all.

Pensions should be at the same level as the private sector.

Maternity leave should be the same as private sector, currently public service gets an extra 1000 on top of their salary on maternity leave, while private sector will only get their normal salary which includes that extra 1000.

If company running a service goes broke/exists then people should be let go instead of taking money off other people.

Public Service should work like the private , ie reward the best, fire the worst.

Public Service is not open to everyone, its who you know!!

ScouseMouse

average_runner wrote: »

People just want a fair system for all, and because the country is bankrupt, proper measures should be taken and the public service needs to be run as a private service is to be fair to all.

Pensions should be at the same level as the private sector.

Maternity leave should be the same as private sector, currently public service gets an extra 1000 on top of their salary on maternity leave, while private sector will only get their normal salary which includes that extra 1000.

If company running a service goes broke/exists then people should be let go instead of taking money off other people.

Public Service should work like the private , ie reward the best, fire the worst.

Public Service is not open to everyone, its who you know!!

As I said to Unkel. COP ON.

Reasoning and fairness has no place in this discussion. This is about the public/civil service so should do, will do, has no place here. Thorntons knocked on my door last night. I signed up.

jimmycrackcorm

I still cannot fathom why some people on my estate have not switched over to the city bin. They're 20% cheaper, with online billing and a weekly sms reminder.

lord lucan

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

I still cannot fathom why some people on my estate have not switched over to the city bin. They're 20% cheaper, with online billing and a weekly sms reminder.

Some might feel that the cost saving was negligible over the course of a year. Depend on how much you use it i suppose. In my case i spent around about €60 with SDCC on black bin lifts last year. Both of us work and are out of the house most of the day so it takes an age to fill it. Pure laziness on my part not to bother switching.

If i ended up with a couple of nippers and as a consequence used to bin a lot more i'd definitely change providers.

Fergus

How much did SDCC receive from greyhound for the business?

jimmycrackcorm

lord lucan wrote: »

Some might feel that the cost saving was negligible over the course of a year. Depend on how much you use it i suppose. In my case i spent around about €60 with SDCC on black bin lifts last year. Both of us work and are out of the house most of the day so it takes an age to fill it. Pure laziness on my part not to bother switching.

If i ended up with a couple of nippers and as a consequence used to bin a lot more i'd definitely change providers.

I'd well agree with that. I delayed changing my gas and electricty over airtricty for ages just out of laziness despite huge savings. What did it for me with citybin was my bin tags occasionally going missing though I guess it's not a problem now.

The recession can't be bad enough when we are not trying to maximize their savings....

Stevo105

I was told that "Greyhound Recycling & Recovery Limited" have a minimum collection policy of 17 black bins a year. does anybody know if this is true, i have email them but im still waiting on a reply.

Like Lord Lucan there is only 2 of us. We use about 6 black bins a year and we have a composter so no need for a brown bin

average_runner

One big advantage I found by switching providers was that now i can put out my brown bin even it half full as i pay monthly fee. With the Council for us it was wait till brown bin was full then put it out, ended up with flies etc around the bin!

Big brown bin great for taking the grass also.

Newbee012

Just wondering any of you who have changed providers, have you had any luck with getting SDCC to collect your bins? I'm waiting since November. Which is crazy!! Greyhound now tell me it will be another few weeks, with no real estimate of how much longer I have to wait.
Yet I rang Thorntons to ask them to collect my brown bin as I dont use it due to bad maggot experience! They said no problem , that'll be picked up on friday for you.
I am also not allowed to drop them off myself which I find even odder!

unkel

It took the council about 6 weeks to collect my bins, but that was years ago when citybin just started in Lucan. From others I've heard it now takes much longer, but I don't have any direct experience of that myself

Newbee012

Thanks unkel for the reply, 6 week wait slowly turning into 6 months! :mad:

ScouseMouse

*UPDATE*

Talking to my buddy again. It appears the lads voted on the 40k payoff and rejected it. They have now been told they are getting 16k

They have been taken off the trucks and are now in jeeps going around collecting litter. :D

AND GET THIS:

They are now working 8 till 4 !!!!!

Poor folks :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

unkel

superscouse wrote: »

They have been taken off the trucks and are now in jeeps going around collecting litter.

Ah that's what I've been seeing in the past few weeks! In fairness all the main roads around where I live are a lot cleaner now.

manc

superscouse wrote: »

*UPDATE*

AND GET THIS:

They are now working 8 till 4 !!!!!

Poor folks :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

The greyhound lorries (SDCC with new stickers) were collecting in our estate at 7pm on tuesday, so even longer hours.

Newbee012 wrote: »

Thanks unkel for the reply, 6 week wait slowly turning into 6 months! :mad:

It takes months, and you have to keep ringing them. Note each bin is a different department so you have to ring 3 departments, as they won't pass on the info :rolleyes:.

but now with Greyhound things may be different.

ScouseMouse

manc wrote: »

The greyhound lorries (SDCC with new stickers) were collecting in our estate at 7pm on tuesday, so even longer hours.





It takes months, and you have to keep ringing them. Note each bin is a different department so you have to ring 3 departments, as they won't pass on the info :rolleyes:.

but now with Greyhound things may be different.

Did you say they were SDCC bin trucks ?

They are supposed off the road and going back as they are leased and the council is behind on its payments (allegedly)

The new pick up trucks turned up without tax on them so before they could go on the road the council had go and tax them. LOL

I just hope the new manager that has shook them all up, had the foresight to put trackers on the new pickup trucks. We wouldn't want them sitting up a quiet laneway somewhere for a few hours.....

Finally someone is getting work done and making real progress. I must ask my buddy what their name is as credit where credit is due, they deserve a pat on the back.

I read elsewhere on boards, someone complaining the county manager gave greyhound the contract without consulting anyone. Well fair play to them. It could have been bogged down with consultations, discussions, negotiations and more consultations. They needed to grab the lot of them by the scruff or the neck and drag them into reality - AND THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED !

Top marks to the new sheriff in town Tallaght


Oh, and if anyone whats to know where I get my information, it was paddy, the black guy with one leg from iceland (good luck finding him)

average_runner

I had to get on to Keating to get my bins collected after a war of words with SDCC

First I sent the letter in and rang a week later and they said they never got and so put me on the list and told me it be 8 weeks.

Rang after 8 weeks and they told me another week.

Rang after that, and they said you arent on the list and we put you on it now and it be 8 weeks, I lost the rag at this point and told them if the bins go missing i dont care.

She said can you not drop them down to us in your car!!!!!

So rang Keating and he said he look into it.

2 days later a truck pulled up and collected the black bin, but get this he said it wasnt his job to collect the green or brown.

2 days later the brown and green were collected but by seperated vans on a sat morning before 9 am!!!

manc

superscouse wrote: »

Did you say they were SDCC bin trucks ?

Thats what the colour scheme looked like but without the SDCC name, the cab door had a Greyhound sticker like the ones they are putting on the bins.

I just presumed they bought the lorries but didn't get around to respraying them yet.


Anyone got prices for Greyhounds collection, are they monthly/yearly or per lift?

manc

manc wrote: »

Thats what the colour scheme looked like but without the SDCC name, the cab door had a Greyhound sticker like the ones they are putting on the bins.

I just presumed they bought the lorries but didn't get around to respraying them yet.


Anyone got prices for Greyhounds collection, are they monthly/yearly or per lift?

I would imagine you are still paying the council as Greyhound are just contracted to collect the waste.

KERSPLAT!

Greyhound have taken over completely I was told. It's nothing to do with the council anymore. All the council customers are now greyhound customers

lord lucan

IPAM wrote: »

Greyhound have taken over completely I was told. It's nothing to do with the council anymore. All the council customers are now greyhound customers

When i went to log in to my Refuse a/c it redirected me to a new version on Greyhounds site. Not sure how they're scanning the barcode on the bin though,they placed a large Greyhound sticker right across it last week!

lord lucan

lord lucan wrote: »

When i went to log in to my Refuse a/c it redirected me to a new version on Greyhounds site. Not sure how they're scanning the barcode on the bin though,they placed a large Greyhound sticker right across it last week!

The bins were all chipped in the last year or two.

lord lucan

foreign wrote: »

The bins were all chipped in the last year or two.

That makes sense. Thanks.:)

average_runner

Greyhound havent collected green bins in Grange Manor park in over 3 weeks!!

unkel

average_runner wrote: »

Greyhound havent collected green bins in Grange Manor park in over 3 weeks!!

I was contemplating switching from Citybin to Greyhound as they are slightly cheaper and offer a few months free of charge when you sign up, but the thought of that puts me right off. I've more green bins to put out than grey bins. I've been with Citybin since they started in Lucan and they have NEVER missed a collection. Staying with Citybin, but just switched to the pay per lift method from the fixed €20 per month, so I'll try and recycle a bit more now

Ferret81

Hi Everyone

I am new to Lucan and trying to organise my bins to discover the SDCC have sold on the bin collection. I am wondering would people recommend citybin or greyhound price wise etc... I am living near St Edmundsbury.

Ta.

unkel

Ferret81 wrote: »

I am wondering would people recommend citybin or greyhound price wise etc...

Greyhound is slightly cheaper whatever option you take. But not lifting a green bin for three weeks in a row is miserable service levels. As bad or even worse than the council was

Citybin deliver outstanding service. Never missed one collection in the several years I'm with them. They place the bins neatly back to the same spot you've left them out, you get free txt reminders to tell you which bin will be lifted the next morning, free emails with all the details of your lifts, email invoices, etc. Highly recommended.

manc

It appears Greyhounds standard price will remain the same as it was with SDCC (€10.50 a lift for black bin, €5.25 for brown) unless you ring them and get a price dependant on your usage.

manc

manc wrote: »

It appears Greyhounds standard price will remain the same as it was with SDCC (€10.50 a lift for black bin, €5.25 for brown) unless you ring them and get a price dependant on your usage.

How the fúck do they get away with charging €10.50 a lift? Citybin only charge €8.40!

Merch

I went to look at my account and was transferred to greyhound, where it said my account balance was -.75, I had lodged previously 8 euro so I had enough balance to have 1 lift while with SDCC, that money seems to have disappeared after having transferred to greyhound.

I rang SDCC but they claim they have no records of any payments anymore, this seems a bit ridiculous that they got rid of all records (or claim) I tried ringing greyhound but it never answered on numerous numbers.
Anyone else have this problem of account credit getting lost in the transfer?

wush06

Just got a letter from these. There is now an annual charge of €60 then it's 6.20 every second week based on 20kg.

mhtc

considering the average bin weights closer to 40 kilos (don't know anyone who puts one out every fortnight) the rates are more like €12.40 for black and €9.60 for brown. Throw in the 60 quid service charge and your talking about one hell of an increase!

wush06

How can one tell the weight of the bin every second week when you need to put it out.

Merch

mhtc wrote: »

considering the average bin weights closer to 40 kilos (don't know anyone who puts one out every fortnight) the rates are more like €12.40 for black and €9.60 for brown. Throw in the 60 quid service charge and your talking about one hell of an increase!

I got a letter, I thought it was stating that you pay 60 and get all the lifts done for the year?
I rang them to enquire but no answer, left message as they said high call volume, no call back yet.

Are you saying the flat charge is just that plus you pay for each lift?

If the charge is for the full year, it still makes no sense for me, as I barely put the grey bin out? maybe 4 times a year, brown maybe 2 times and green as much as i can/need to. I was planning on moving and if any/all the above is true, I plan on making my self clear to them by quitting their service and going to someone else.

wush06

Well the old way was @10.50 x 26 =€273
The new way @ 6.20 x 26 +€60 = 221.20.
That's if you put your black bin out every two weeks.

So there is some saving to be made. But they have the weight thing added in.

Merch

The thing is, I dont put my bin out every two weeks, if greyhound had a decent system to show what your account/usage was I could see exactly, but think literally 4 times last year, so every 10 weeks at 6.10 is 61 euro.

It actually makes no sense to encourage people to put the bin out all the time, surely they should be encouraging people to recycle more,
OR
Maybe people were recycling more, individuals realised the savings by being green, so now greyhound decided to charge a flat rate for all bin lifts in advance as maybe they were making a loss? edit or just not as much profit. I really have no problem paying for a lift by weight per lift, but not in advance for lifts that will not happen.

I have already been pi$$ed off by greyhound, when making an enquiry about missing credit in my account, they sent me an excel doc which they could have just typed up, I stayed with them as it was less hassle for me to stay and I thought the cost of each lift didnt warrant moving, but NOW they decide to charge me for bin lifts they and I know I will not make.

I hope more people that are in the same situation as me (recycle and thereby minimise the amount of bin lifts needed) vote with their feet and go to another service, not sure (but have an idea who that is in my area) , so will be looking it up as greyhound cant even be arsed to respond, its not that they are inundated with calls, they never have replied.

Merch

looks like my options are thorntons, citybin? or maybe panda (not sure if they do lucan)