Dublin City Council - Bin Collection Privatised/Greyhound Megathread

Lawrence1895

TishyO wrote: »

Apart from bob11 has anyone else received their info pack? I haven't received mine neither have my neighbours.

There could be a lot of calls to Joe Duffy next week when bins aren't emptied. 😉

Maybe they just send them information packs out after the 16th of January?

Meauldsegosha

Lars1916 wrote: »

TishyO wrote: »

Apart from bob11 has anyone else received their info pack? I haven't received mine neither have my neighbours.

There could be a lot of calls to Joe Duffy next week when bins aren't emptied. 😉

Maybe they just send them information packs out after the 16th of January?

Maybe but I'm sure I read somewhere that people would receive their packs by 13th Jan. Either way it is very badly organised. There hasn't been much advertising about the change over. I don't read newspapers except online maybe DCC ran a print ad. I do listen to the radio and heard nothing on that.

HeidiHeidi

TishyO wrote: »

Maybe but I'm sure I read somewhere that people would receive their packs by 13th Jan. Either way it is very badly organised. There hasn't been much advertising about the change over. I don't read newspapers except online maybe DCC ran a print ad. I do listen to the radio and heard nothing on that.

They'd want to either get the info into households, or notify people in some way (my info was in the letterbox this morning) - both my black and green bin collection days have changed.

h.s.thomson

Hi All,

I worked in the Waste Industry in Ireland for 15years.

I've been reading various posts regarding Greyhound's take over of the DCC bin collection and thought I'd clarify some aspects of the takeover as I understand them to be.

1. Greyhound did not pay DCC a cent for the bin collection service. The service was awarded to Greyhound upon receipt of a €3million bond......presumably leveraged from a private equity investment (the banks don't have 3m to loan).

2. The upfront payment of the service charge of €100, depending on how many pay, will be used to pay back the investment principle & interest. Essentially we are paying the bond for the collection of our bins.

3. The intention is make DCC bin collection payable by weight come June/July 2012. The current ID system, probably the fairest system, will be "binned". The result will be total ambiguity when it comes to the cost of emptying bins (SDCC customers can probably attest to this!!!)

I don't know where to end this post so if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to try and answer them.

HeidiHeidi

h.s.thomson wrote: »

Hi All,

I worked in the Waste Industry in Ireland for 15years.

I've been reading various posts regarding Greyhound's take over of the DCC bin collection and thought I'd clarify some aspects of the takeover as I understand them to be.

1. Greyhound did not pay DCC a cent for the bin collection service. The service was awarded to Greyhound upon receipt of a €3million bond......presumably leveraged from a private equity investment (the banks don't have 3m to loan).

2. The upfront payment of the service charge of €100, depending on how many pay, will be used to pay back the investment principle & interest. Essentially we are paying the bond for the collection of our bins.

3. The intention is make DCC bin collection payable by weight come June/July 2012. The current ID system, probably the fairest system, will be "binned". The result will be total ambiguity when it comes to the cost of emptying bins (SDCC customers can probably attest to this!!!)

I don't know where to end this post so if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to try and answer them.

Two questions - what do you mean by the "current ID system"? And have you any idea how they propose to weigh for those currently using tagged bags? Thanks!

h.s.thomson

DCC currently operate a GREY BIN ID system. The binlift reads a tag in the bin, if the account is up to date the bin is lifted if the account is in arrears the bin is rejected.

As far as I'm aware the bag collections will remain as they are. The council had originally intended to keep the bag & commerical bin collections but subsequently pulled out....not sure why.

Dublinbin

Hi all. I am very uneasy about what is happening so I sent an email to all councillors with my questions. Feel free to copy it and send it to your local councillor. If people are interested, I will publish the answers here.
Dear Sir, Madame,

I just received a joint letter from Dublin City Council and Greyhound announcing the completion of the sale of the commercial and domestic waste collection to Greyhound Recycling and Recovery.

I am first surprised that Dublin City Council, a body representing the citizens of Dublin, consider the collection of waste a business.
Reading the letter carefully, I had several questions that you might be able to answer.

What are the reasons for the sale of the business?
How much did the Council receive for the sale?
Was there any vote concerning this issue? What was the result of the vote?
Was there any public consultation on this major issue that will directly affect directly several hundred thousand people, if so when was that?
Was there a public tender?
Does DCC have the right to sell the public waste service?
The sale takes effect immediately, why was there no information prior that?
The business has been sold to Greyhound, does this mean that Greyhound has a monopoly on bin collection in large parts of Dublin? Are there any current other providers of this service in all areas affected by this change? If is it possible to chose another provider why did Greyhound pay for the waste collection service?
I have read on the DCC website that people entitled to a waiver will not have to pay for the collection in 2012. What will be the situation in the next years?
Will this not increase the level of litter in the street and in the end cost more to DCC?
In the letter it is stated that ” the cost for bin tags will remain unchanged for an initial period” and on the DCC website it is stated “The cost for bag labels will remain unchanged for an initial period of at least 6 months” so for how long exactly will the cost stay the same?
Thank you for answering my questions,
City Manager
manager@dublincity.ie
Central Area
christy.burke@dublincity.ie, aine.clancy@dublincity.ie, emer.costello@dublincity.ie mary.fitzpatrick@dublincity.ie , raymcadam@gmail.com , seamas.mcgrattan@dublincity.ie mary.oshea@dublincity.ie , oregan.claire@gmail.com , cieran.perry@dublincity.ie nialring@eircom.net,
nialring@eircom.net, marie.metcalfe@dublincity.ie
North Central Area
pbourkelabour@eircom.net, tom.brabazon@dublincity.ie, gerry.breen@dublincity.ie, julia.carmichael@ireland.com , pcrimmins@esatclear.ie , declan.flanagan@dublincity.ie
heneydm@gmail.com , horganjones.jane@gmail.com , mmacdonncha@gmail.com
brian.mcdowell@labour.ie , andrewmontague@eircom.net
damianofarrell@gmail.com , campaign@naoise.ie , larry.otoole@dublincity.ie
North West Councillors
billtormey@gmail.com , john.redmond2@dublincity.ie , anthony.connaghan@dublincity.ie
paul.mcauliffe@dublincity.ie , steve.wrenn@dublincity.ie

dolallyoh

I was a d12 dcc customer then went to thorntons which was a nightmare then went to ozo who are great and probably for me about 50 cheaper pa than thorntons.

Interesting point though is I kept my dcc green bin thus having, in effect, a weekly recycle collection [green (dcc) and orange (ozo) every other week]

Such a luxury to not have to jump in the bin and compact everything !

So now with the greyhound thing they won't collect the green one as of this month.

Anyone want an orphaned green bin ?

Avatargh

All the talk about bins! Anyone know about bags?

Seems like DCC tags will be "honoured" for a while, but does anyone know

1. what the cost per bag is now, and how does one buy greyhound tags etc?
2. is there now a costs on the previously free recycling bags? if so, are tags applicable, and where do they come from?

thanks

tfak85

I am in a similar situation, just received my letter in the door this morning, I've emailed Greyhound because much of the information on their site seems to point to people who use wheelie bins.

I am quite concerned at the prospect of having to pay for the "recycling and recovery" collections, especially as up to now DCC have supplied the bags too.

I can't imagine we will be starting to use wheelie bins on our street, as far as I know the trucks don't fit down it. Same goes for about five adjacent streets here.

Stripey Cat

It does seem weird that bin collection is seen a business, and because they don't make money on it they can give it away to a private company.

Street lighting doesn't make any money either, nor do many things that DCC do. Should all of them be privatised?

keane2097

I don't really understand the complaining here tbh.

Every City I've lived in before Dublin people have to pay to have their waste disposed of, it's totally standard.

Also can't see the issue with a weighing system which means people producing more waste will be charged more.

What's the problem?

Stripey Cat

I guess one of the issues is that we all have a stake in our neighbour's disposing of their waste properly.

Anything that encourages dumping or hoarding waste could have health implications for us all.

Lawrence1895

keane2097 wrote: »

I don't really understand the complaining here tbh.

Every City I've lived in before Dublin people have to pay to have their waste disposed of, it's totally standard.

Also can't see the issue with a weighing system which means people producing more waste will be charged more.

What's the problem?

I would say, one problem is uncertainty. Nobody really knows, what's going on next, since there was no proper information, eg. newsletters in the post.

Customers are just afraid, that they will be overcharged, which is always bad in times like these.

Wile E. Coyote

Lars1916 wrote: »

I would say, one problem is uncertainty. Nobody really knows, what's going on next, since there was no proper information, eg. newsletters in the post.


Customers are just afraid, that they will be overcharged, which is always bad in times like these.

Customers won't be 'overcharged' they'll instead be paying the going rate. The waste collection service operated by Dublin City Council was losing them €10million per year. I know if I was living in DCC I'd rather see that money going to proper use.

This is not an over night decision. This has been talked about and been in the papers for months.

Lawrence1895

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

Customers won't be 'overcharged' they'll instead be paying the going rate. The waste collection service operated by Dublin City Council was losing them €10million per year. I know if I was living in DCC I'd rather see that money going to proper use.

This is not an over night decision. This has been talked about and been in the papers for months.

The 'going' rate? Meaning the same, we pay now? Well, my experience with privatized service providers is, they promise not to change the current rates for a certain period, but after that, they might increase their prices for all different reasons.

Dodge

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

This is not an over night decision. This has been talked about and been in the papers for months.

And it was the last remaining council to privatise waste collection

lensman

I contacted my local councillor here in D7, he said we can arrange for any waste collector to pick up our bins for the first year then we have to go with greyhound,...I waiting for more info about this,..something smells, pardon the pun.

keane2097

Lars1916 wrote: »

The 'going' rate? Meaning the same, we pay now? Well, my experience with privatized service providers is, they promise not to change the current rates for a certain period, but after that, they might increase their prices for all different reasons.

To a level at which they can cover their costs and make a reasonable profit for the vital service they provide.

I can see that people may be worried about the uncertainty of the changeover, but the idea that people are reticent to pay an appropriate fee to have the waste they produce disposed of for them is pretty odious.

Dirk Gently

keane2097 wrote: »

What's the problem?

My problem is the manner in which it happened. I still haven't received any notification from the council or greyhound. I found out by reading this forum. If I didnt log in here I wouldn't know yet that I have to pay 100 quid up front as well as whatever is outstanding on my dub city account plus top up my new greyhound account in advance before my next bin lift.

Also, only greyhound operate my area so I have no choice of company to go with. It was a hamfisted change over. Dub city should have given enough notice so other companies could make a drive to enter the market, as it stands only greyhound are in a position to do the lifts as the other companies have no steady volume of custom to justify sending in their trucks. Greyhound are also at the dearer end of providers, and will probably be more expensive again in 6 months time. Looking at the other companies, greyhound would be at the bottom of my list if I had a choice.

Wile E. Coyote

lensman wrote: »

I contacted my local councillor here in D7, he said we can arrange for any waste collector to pick up our bins for the first year then we have to go with greyhound,...I waiting for more info about this,..something smells, pardon the pun.

Your local councillor doesn't know what he's talking about. You're under no obligation to go with any individual service provider. Ring around all the companies, there's plenty out there and only too happy to take on your custom. There's also places where you can bring your waste yourself and pay for its disposal.

keane2097

Dirk Gently wrote: »

My problem is the manner in which it happened. I still haven't received any notification from the council or greyhound. I found out by reading this forum. If I didnt log in here I wouldn't know yet that I have to pay 100 quid up front as well as whatever is outstanding on my dub city account plus top up my new greyhound account in advance before my next bin lift.

Also, only greyhound operate my area so I have no choice of company to go with. It was a hamfisted change over. Dub city should have given enough notice so other companies could make a drive to enter the market, as it stands only greyhound are in a position to do the lifts as the other companies have no steady volume of custom to justify sending in their trucks. Greyhound are also at the dearer end of providers, and will probably be more expensive again in 6 months time. Looking at the other companies, greyhound would be at the bottom of my list if I had a choice.

You should be getting a letter in the post presently - mine arrived yesterday. There's 30 days from Monday to pay the one hundred euro, it's not exactly a bolt from the blue assuming you get the letter in the next couple of working days.

One suspects the same complaints would be levelled if there had been 60 days notice - "they should have given us three months".

As for your lack of choice on provider, you've said it yourself, other companies don't operate in the areas - how in the world is that anyone's fault but theirs? It's an unfortunate fact that we're left in a position in which we have only one option, but other companies that service the area not existing is hardly the fault of the council.

Lawrence1895

keane2097 wrote: »

You should be getting a letter in the post presently - mine arrived yesterday. There's 30 days from Monday to pay the one hundred euro, it's not exactly a bolt from the blue assuming you get the letter in the next couple of working days.

One suspects the same complaints would be levelled if there had been 60 days notice - "they should have given us three months".

As for your lack of choice on provider, you've said it yourself, other companies don't operate in the areas - how in the world is that anyone's fault but theirs? It's an unfortunate fact that we're left in a position in which we have only one option, but other companies that service the area not existing is hardly the fault of the council.

'A couple of working days'. That can be anything between 2 and 20 days or so. And those, who receive their letter later than others, have less time to pay the 100 Euros? Sounds very badly organised, it should be no big deal to send out all letters at the same time, imo

Dodge

Lars1916 wrote: »

it should be no big deal to send out all letters at the same time, imo

In fairness its probably at least 100,000 letters. There's no real harm in sending these out in batches.

keane2097

Lars1916 wrote: »

'A couple of working days'. That can be anything between 2 and 20 days or so. And those, who receive their letter later than others, have less time to pay the 100 Euros? Sounds very badly organised, it should be no big deal to send out all letters at the same time, imo

Seriously? There's clearly a problem if people don't get sufficient time to organise themselves to pay the fee, what part of my post gave you the idea that a letter of notification arriving in twenty working days' time would be acceptable?

John Mason

i havent received a letter and tbh, if i didnt read this forum i wouldnt know anything about.

Greyhound are **** - they have rubbish customer services and regularly dont turn up

Dodge

irishbird wrote: »

i havent received a letter and tbh, if i didnt read this forum i wouldnt know anything about.

Greyhound are **** - they have rubbish customer services and regularly dont turn up

What are you basing that on?

Lawrence1895

keane2097 wrote: »

Seriously? There's clearly a problem if people don't get sufficient time to organise themselves to pay the fee, what part of my post gave you the idea that a letter of notification arriving in twenty working days' time would be acceptable?

I was referring to a post, which mentioned, you have 30 days from Monday on to pay the 100 Euro, regardless from when you received the letter.

I would not complain, if there was a 30 day period from the day on, you actually receive the letter.

Wile E. Coyote

Lars1916 wrote: »

The 'going' rate? Meaning the same, we pay now? Well, my experience with privatized service providers is, they promise not to change the current rates for a certain period, but after that, they might increase their prices for all different reasons.

The rate you're currently paying obviously isn't sufficient to cover the cost of the service or DCC wouldnt have been losing €10mil a year, but then again a lot of that could be down to inefficiency on the part of DCC.

At the end of the day, Greyhound like any other waste company provide a service. They're not going to do this at a loss to themselves so if they have then yes they probably will increase rates. There's still nothing stopping you ringing around or throwing your rubbish into your car and taking it to the local tip/recycling centre.

Lawrence1895

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

The rate you're currently paying obviously isn't sufficient to cover the cost of the service or DCC wouldnt have been losing €10mil a year, but then again a lot of that could be down to inefficiency on the part of DCC.

At the end of the day, Greyhound like any other waste company provide a service. They're not going to do this at a loss to themselves so if they have then yes they probably will increase rates. There's still nothing stopping you ringing around or throwing your rubbish into your car and taking it to the local tip/recycling centre.

Right, I don't have a car/driving license (my problem), but as far as I know, Greyhound are the only provider for my area (Beaumont).