New bin collecting

Mint Sauce

If you have suitable transport, why would you even bother signing up to one of these companies.

Just back from the Greenstar Depot. Dropped the back seats of the car, put an old sheet in the boot to keep all clean and dry. 4-5 black bags, few boxes of recycling, drove up on to the weigh bridge, €5 for the lot.

TheQ47

Mint Sauce wrote: »

If you have suitable transport, why would you even bother signing up to one of these companies.

Maybe because we don't all live in town. 15+ miles with 4/5 rubbish bags in the boot? Eh, no thanks.
:eek:

Mint Sauce

TheQ47 wrote: »

Maybe because we don't all live in town. 15+ miles with 4/5 rubbish bags in the boot? Eh, no thanks.
:eek:

Hence my comment re suitable transport. Two or three others the whole time I was there, were also using trailers to carry their wheelie bins and bags. At €5/20kgs, if you have the ways and means of transporting your refuse, its a considerable saving, and meaning not having to submit your details to a database.

It wont suit everyone, but hopefully it will some.

tommyamnesia

Mint Sauce wrote: »

If you have suitable transport, why would you even bother signing up to one of these companies.

Just back from the Greenstar Depot. Dropped the back seats of the car, put an old sheet in the boot to keep all clean and dry. 4-5 black bags, few boxes of recycling, drove up on to the weigh bridge, €5 for the lot.

How did you manage that? I brought one bag of landfill waste and it cost 6.50!! Sign inside door says 6.50 for one black bag.

Mint Sauce

tommyamnesia wrote: »

How did you manage that? I brought one bag of landfill waste and it cost 6.50!! Sign inside door says 6.50 for one black bag.

I'm not sure. Noticed the sign, told the one in the office I had about 4 black bags, and a few boxes of recycling.

Told me I could go up on the weigh bridge, then drop it all in the sorting shed, and go back on to the weigh bridge when done.

Wasn't gonna argue with that.

tommyamnesia

Mint Sauce wrote: »

I'm not sure. Noticed the sign, told the one in the office I had about 4 black bags, and a few boxes of recycling.

Told me I could go up on the weigh bridge, then drop it all in the sorting shed, and go back on to the weigh bridge when done.

Wasn't gonna argue with that.

Can't blame you!!

sligoface

Got a letter today, greenstar are putting the standing charge up to 6.50, which they say is a result of increased costs due to the new regulations. The whole thing was a con, the standing charge being implemented was already a price increase, now it's been put up again and it hasn't even been a year. When they made these laws was there any protection put in place for the consumers or can they charge whatever they want now? A standing charge unrelated to how often you put the bin out is just unfair.

I don't see hardly anyone in town using the brown bins and they haven't delivered ours so I don't think there was any sense applied in this whole thing. We were forced to join these companies who can apply a standing charge of any amount they like, for us to avail of a necessary service. Now, even though nobody is using the new bins they are raising the price for collecting them.

phillo65

The €6.50 standing charge is for what lenght?You are correct,Sligoface in what you say.No proper information on costs,etc were given to us.In fact some of the Misinformation distributed to households was at variance to the Byelaw.There is no competition in the market.The companies will play the game until all are signed up and then charges will be the same accross the board.

Buford T Justice

phillo65 wrote: »

The €6.50 standing charge is for what lenght?You are correct,Sligoface in what you say.No proper information on costs,etc were given to us.In fact some of the Misinformation distributed to households was at variance to the Byelaw.There is no competition in the market.The companies will play the game until all are signed up and then charges will be the same accross the board.

Daylight robbery. At least dick turpin had the courtesy to wear a mask. The waste collectors can charge what they like now. no more pay as you go. Bad an all as greenstar are (ffs, their customer service is scandalous) Barna is daylight robbery.

I wonder is it worth lobbying our newly elected councilors about repealing the bye law on this one, or has the damage already been done. Unfortunately I fear its the latter


Its getting harder and harder to make ends meet as each month goes by if you ask me.

sligoface

phillo65 wrote: »

The €6.50 standing charge is for what lenght?You are correct,Sligoface in what you say.No proper information on costs,etc were given to us.In fact some of the Misinformation distributed to households was at variance to the Byelaw.There is no competition in the market.The companies will play the game until all are signed up and then charges will be the same accross the board.

6.50 per month up from 4.50, up from 0 before the new laws. Greenstar keeps saaying they are still cheapewst but barna is 20 for 3 months and charge less per pickup. Basically an 80 euro per year tax has been imposed on all households due to this because it's unavoidable unless you go to the site with the rubbish yourself which is not an option as I have no car.

Having to drive our rubbish to the site is not where I thought we'd be in 2014.

The charge to get your bin taken is too high, so people are recycling more and burning more and delaying putting bins out, meanwhile I'd imagine the waste co's still need the same manpower and petrol to do the rounds. Increasing the standing charge is their way of making up the difference when they should be making it cheaper to get it taken away instead.

Geuze

sligoface wrote: »

6.50 per month up from 4.50, up from 0 before the new laws. Greenstar keeps saaying they are still cheapewst but barna is 20 for 3 months and charge less per pickup. ma

Just to clarify.

The standing charge was 2.00 pm on 1st Jan 2014.

In early 2014, a few weeks before the by-laws publicity, the fee rose from 2.00 to 4.16.

4.16pm is 50 pa.

At the same time, the bin charges per lift were reduced.

This week, they announced a rise from 4.16 to 6.50pm.

sligoface

Geuze wrote: »

Just to clarify.

The standing charge was 2.00 pm on 1st Jan 2014.

In early 2014, a few weeks before the by-laws publicity, the fee rose from 2.00 to 4.16.

4.16pm is 50 pa.

At the same time, the bin charges per lift were reduced.

This week, they announced a rise from 4.16 to 6.50pm.

However if I remember correctly they put the charge per lift up before, I think it was in 2012. I think they have raised prices every year and they are loving this standing charge because any rises are unavoidable for the consumer. This needs to be regulated as it is getting out of control and will lead to more illegal dumping.

loki7777

The best way to give them a lesson would be let them drive like 2-3 weeks without anything to be collected.

Bebo stunnah

loki7777 wrote: »

The best way to give them a lesson would be let them drive like 2-3 weeks without anything to be collected.

Or dump your rubbish outside their entrance on the docks.

prodsc

Still cannot read my account properly on Barna easy pay website, can see my balance, cannot see transactions and don't know when my quarterly payment is due. Was told payments had all been set to end of June so is due beginning of July but seems ridiculous they haven't sorted this yet!

whatswhat

I was with Barna for 3 years before this fiasco of their "change over to a new system." I never had a problem at all and could manage my account easily online. You could view history of pick ups and payments etc... and I keep a record of payments and lifts so I know my account is always in credit. Since March, my account seems to show a different balance every other day and goes overdrawn on its own, with no bin collections even involved. I have emailed them, left messages on the answer machine but it took 2 weeks for them to reply. My account balance on their screen was in credit, they advised me when I eventually got to speak to someone but I was staring at my account details and it was in a minus?? They said all would be sorted eventually, they have a lot to do and if I wanted the true figure, I just had to ring them. I said I would indeed if I had 2 weeks of my life spare to get through! I had even asked a friend of mine who is with green star,about their charges and service with a view to switching. After reading about them here though, thats a no no too. Keep a record of every payment and every lift with Barna, thats my advice!

redarmyblues

This policy reaches the full fruit of its idiocy this evening as households who were caught by surprise by this initiative push their uncollected bins from their old service/provider onto 'bonfires'.

TequilaMockingBird

I rang Greenstar twice to collect my old bins. I was assured each time they would be. They weren't. So I put them in the car (not easy) and brought them up to Greenstar, where the bloke in there didn't seem to know what to do with them. He said I'd need to take them home and wash them and bring them back, then a (helpful) young lad arrived and over-ruled him and said they were fine to just leave them.

Anyway, the following day I got a letter from Greenstar saying they were going to start legal proceedings if I didn't allow them to collect their bins! They said in the letter they had tried several times. Eh... no, you didn't - they've been beside my front door for a year.

Dreadful company.

sligoface

redarmyblues wrote: »

This policy reaches the full fruit of its idiocy this evening as households who were caught by surprise by this initiative push their uncollected bins from their old service/provider onto 'bonfires'.

Are you referring to the one a few days ago at Garavogue villas? There were several families burning a massive pile of rubbish. Kids and dogs running around it, looked a grand old time and not a garda in sight doing anything about it, though the fire was huge, spread out on a big patch of grass, on a hill, next to a very busy park and road on a sunny day. Methinks it might be safe enough to do the same in my private garden, in a fire pit built for this specific purpose. I have to do something, I can't afford to spend nearly as much on rubbish collection as I do on food each week. How can the EU and our government pass a law to allow private companies to hold us to ransom.

As for Greenstar threatening to sue over dirty old wheelie bins that a poster returned themselves and was initially refused and told to wash them, it's like something out of a Kafka story. But I'm not surprised, the poor dears are crying in every letter about how the government regulations are costing them a fortune which is why they are constantly raising their rates. Never mind that those same regulations are basically forcing their customers into paying a standing charge regardless of whether their bins get picked up or not, ensuring them higher profits.

barneyrub

prodsc wrote: »

Still cannot read my account properly on Barna easy pay website, can see my balance, cannot see transactions and don't know when my quarterly payment is due. Was told payments had all been set to end of June so is due beginning of July but seems ridiculous they haven't sorted this yet!

Same as this. AFAIK the standing charge will go the 1st July.

I logged in on day couple weeks ago and they had all the lifts listed, standing charge etc but it's all gone again now. Just showing balance and nothing else. Ridiculous that it's still such a shambles

barneyrub

barneyrub wrote: »

Same as this. AFAIK the standing charge will go the 1st July.

I logged in on day couple weeks ago and they had all the lifts listed, standing charge etc but it's all gone again now. Just showing balance and nothing else. Ridiculous that it's still such a shambles

Standing charge to go? To be replaced by a higher charge or dispensed?

barneyrub

Sorry, meant it will go, as in be charged on the 1st July. Sorry!

prodsc

Barna charged me €11.50 for the garbage bin last week? Anyone else paying this?

I am guessing its an overweight charge but the bin was not heavy when pushed to footpath at 8am, wasn't emptied until near midday!

Mint Sauce

5 black bags and a few pizza boxes got rid off at greenstar last week for 5/6 euro

Just asked if I could drive on to the weigh bridge, and dropped all into the big shed.

loki7777

Also thinking about closing my acc with greenstar and drop it when i will need it - without any stupid monthly charges

whatswhat

prodsc wrote: »

Barna charged me €11.50 for the garbage bin last week? Anyone else paying this?

I am guessing its an overweight charge but the bin was not heavy when pushed to footpath at 8am, wasn't emptied until near midday!

It looks like the overweight charge but short of waiting until you can see them weigh it, there is no way of knowing really. I had the opposite the other week. Could hardly move my bin at all, it seemed to weigh a ton to me. I fully expected the overweight charge to kick in on it but was only charged as normal.

barneyrub

How are people finding Barna etc now? Our charges still seem to be a little all over the place?
And annoys me that they don't provide a weight for the bins they lift...Yesterdays one was charged as an overweight one (which Im full sure it was) but there's no indication of how far over it might have been

prodsc

New Brown Bin Caddies being distributed this week. Good roll of free bags!
Obviously not enough people using the Brown Bins in town anyway!

Mint Sauce

prodsc wrote: »

New Brown Bin Caddies being distributed this week. Good roll of free bags!
Obviously not enough people using the Brown Bins in town anyway!

Whats the deal with collections on these? Still bring my black bags to the Depot.

prodsc

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Whats the deal with collections on these? Still bring my black bags to the Depot.

They are Caddies for under your sink, for example. Then transferred to your Brown Bin to be collected.

Food waste cannot be placed in General Waste Bin. I am not sure about bringing your waste to the depots. Check it out next time you are down there. Let us all know!