Local authority checking your refuse disposal

PeterDuggan

Some local authorities are sending threatening letters to houses who don't subscribe to bin collection companies. What do people think?

HeidiHeidi

Threatening in what way?

I have absolutely no problem with that - I don't pay for bin collection, I bring a black sack to my local recycling centre every couple of months, pay for it and keep the receipt.

With the amount of illegal dumping and fly-tipping going on, people need to be able to show where their rubbish is going.

myfreespirit

Im actually considering cancelling my contract with one of the waste collection companies in Dublin, primarily because of the steep increase in cost over the last twelve months.

It is possible to dispose of "residual waste", as they call it in waste collection centres and hold onto the receipts as proof that you're getting rid of it responsibly. That should solve the threatening letters problem?

JVince

ah the poor little snowflakes - a local authority sends them a letter asking about their waste disposal and the little snowflakes see this as "threatening"

Did they not use the words "please and thankyou" and therefore whoever got these letters see it as threatening?

Ireland has a litter problem. Parts of Dublin, Limerick & Cork are appallingly littered. If you haven't signed up to a disposal service, then a LA should be entitled to ask how you dispose of your waste.

If people have nothing to hide, there's absolutely nothing to be concerned about.

z80CPU

I have no problem either.

Personal experience

My Dad owned the residence I live in now. Up to when he passed, we always brought the waste to the nearest recycling centre every few months in his car. I have now joined up with a local waste disposal company since I live here full time - I pay.

I Cant Believe Its Not Butter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058424091/local-authority-checking-your-refuse-disposal

How do you get rid of your rubbish?

PeterDuggan

The letters threaten the council applying their own fines (outside of the courts or any other control).

And they seem to want to exclude their own recycling centres because they specifically mention that "they don't accept food waste".  

Let's hear from people who have received the letter or interacted with the council please.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123802843#Comment_123802843

My brother didn't have bins; brought it all to the local waste site and got receipts. That sufficed when he was asked to provide proof, by letter like the OP has been.

Now, that predated brown bins being the norm, and the OP has replied about food waste being mentioned as an issue in the letter. Some councils sites do actually accept brown bin waste (I've paid Donegal County Council to take it before); but home composting is also an option.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803097#Comment_123803097

See my reply above from second-hand experience of these letters

Councils have powers to issue fines in relation to waste collection; entirely legally. If not paid it goes to court and can be significantly higher (or overturned if not valid).

Rocket_GD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803097#Comment_123803097

If you don't have any bins through a company I think it's more than fair for the Local authority to ask for proof of how you get rid of your waste.

What's the issue with it?

Fly tipping is a major issue and anything to try and prevent it should be welcomed.

PeterDuggan

Thanks @L1011. That's helpful. Maybe the council aren't that power-mad after all.

To others - no-one's advocating fly tipping. The issue here is councils trying to browbeat responsible residents into using commercial companies.

head82

How are local authorities made aware if a household is subscribing to a private waste bin collection company?

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803227#Comment_123803227

Bin companies are legally required to share their customer lists with councils for enforcement purposes.

HeidiHeidi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803198#Comment_123803198

How are they trying to browbeat anyone?

I can provide receipts for my black bin waste, and my garden waste, from the local recycling centre. There's a compost bin half full and composting away in my back garden which they're welcome to inspect at any time.

You just need to be able to prove that your waste is winding up somewhere legal/legit.

Rocket_GD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803198#Comment_123803198

No one is being browbeated into anything. They are simply looking for the answer to a very simple question, how do you get rid of your rubbish?

If you can't prove it or refuse to more than likely you're illegally dumping it or illegally burning it.

Hoboo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803118#Comment_123803118

Apart from onion peels and egg shells, everything goes straight into insinkerator. 🫡

PeterDuggan

Why not those too?

head82

This all sounds a bit draconian. What's next? Will I have to account for what I flush down the toilet bowl? Do I need to take a photo before I flush?

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803118#Comment_123803118

How do people without bins deal with the issue of waste food? There does not seem to be a food section in any centre i've visited. They surely can't keep it ondoors in bags or outside their homes as it would attract rats etc. Some people living in my area who don't have bins cannot be composting either, they're not the type.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803303#Comment_123803303

There's the legal ways (find a centre that does, composting, sink macerators - though if those became common I imagine they'd be banned); and then there's the illegal ways. The councils are trying to find the people doing the latter.

Fly tipping and burning are both extremely common still.

Donegal CC's recycling centre operator has a price per KG listed for food waste, and I've actually used it myself:

Donegal | Recycling Centres | Bryson Recycling

But I don't know how rare that is.

tayto lover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803308#Comment_123803308

Indeed. I recently had a big bag of rubbish which included food dumped in my bin after it was emptied during the night. I have made it my obsession to catch the culprit. I have checked houses in the area that have no bin outside and made a list because they didn't carry a big heavy bag a long distance. I caught the person who was stealing my milk and i'll catch and report this person too.

Allinall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803298#Comment_123803298

If you live in the country you do absolutely have to account for where your toilet waste goes.

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123802828#Comment_123802828

Not doubting you in any way but how does anyone know that one black bag of rubbish every couple of months accommodates all your waste? This could just be a compliance strategy while the rest is fecked over a convenient wall or fence or into a neighbours bin?

John_Rambo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803319#Comment_123803319

Good man. We'd a fly tipper, local as always… used to leave a black plastic bag in the same place. The local young dads caught him, exposed & humiliated him (verbally) on their phones. Said if there was any further fly tipping it would be put up online. Let us know how you get on!!

lucalux

I spent the last 3 years bringing bags of rubbish to my local amenity centre. Because they don't have a brown waste/food waste facility, I didn't separate that out and used the general waste bags you buy in local shops, for all general waste and food waste.

I dont have a garden to compost in so there's no other option for some houses

I kept receipts as I knew the council was stepping up efforts to verify legal waste disposal.

Not rocket science.

Also: Not surveillance

lucalux

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803420#Comment_123803420

I suppose you don't, but then again you don't know if the person paying for a wheelie bin collection service isn't fly-tipping heavier items to save on their per kg costs each month either

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058424091/local-authority-checking-your-refuse-disposal

It would be useful if you could put up a copy of the letter.

Eoinbmw

To be fair its been an unenforced bylaw for decades across many county councils!

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803511#Comment_123803511

Fully agree. I’m just wondering what would be the minimum number of receipts per year the council would accept as a legitimate disposal option.

Around me the biggest fly tipping issue surrounds the disposal of mattresses and furniture in general. There’s a balance to be achieved between providing a free disposal service for such large items (like I understand is available across the border) and charging €40 to dispose of say a €100 mattress and then being surprised to find them fly tipped around the countryside

Rocket_GD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803853#Comment_123803853

New account using Hitler quotes, who’d have thought it??

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123803839#Comment_123803839

I expect there is no minimum number of receipts because households would have varying consumption rates.

I delivered a mattress for a neighbour to a local authority free collection day last year.

It was very well organised with a space marked by traffic cones to drop off the mattress and an operator picked it up with a hiab grab and put it in the truck.