Panda compost/brown bin

Not a direct reply to your post but Panda are just a dreadful company. I would advise to take any other available option.

If you are in Fingal you do not have a choice but to use them.

I actually don't know who other company is.

Never noticed but its definitely not Panda anyway, are you in a new estate or is this some new rule that us just brought in?

Not commercial company just household bins, about half of us use one company around here and half the other.

I'm in Dublin 15 and got the same email. Massive increase on the brown bin charges.

I've been with Panda for nearly 7 years and thus far found them very reliable. While the service charge increase last year was unwelcome it wasn't extortionate after a number of stable years at €55 every 6 months. The introduction of the recycling charge per lift and per kg prior to that was also unwelcome but somewhat understandable given the change in the market with China no longer importing European waste. Also a per lift charge somewhat dissuades users from unnecessarily putting out bins when not always necessary.

As such I wouldn't be adverse to a reasonable per lift charge for the brown bin but €3.80 in my book is not reasonable. Something more like the recycling lift charge could be appropriate but unlike recycling you can't leave a brown bin fester and mould for weeks on end especially during the warmer summer months. Also is brown bin waste not a revenue generator for companies in the form of compost? Where did they pluck that €3.80 number from and why isn't there an offsetting reduction in the bi-annual service charge?

I will be emailing Panda with a compliant and since City bins are available in my area I'll also be investigating their pricing with the hopes of moving. Worse case scenario I might need to look at a composter and get rid of the brown bin entirely but you can be sure I wouldn't get any reduction in the service charge with that either.

I previously inquired with Panda about getting a 120 litre general waste bin since the per lift charge on the 240 litre bin is so expensive at over €10 but they advised they don't provide that option so it results in trying to compact/compress all such waste and put it out as infrequent as possible.

Just how big is the brown bin, what litre is is??? Surely you'd not fill one a week if it was a 140l bin ?

So what's the deal here? Panda don't seem to publish their pricing anywhere anymore. Are they now just dreaming up whatever range of price plans will extract maximum payment from their existing customers? Is there no regulation around this?

I've received my new price plan today too:

Quarterly Service Charge         €52.50 

Quarterly General Waste Allowance 105Kg 

General Waste Excess per Kg     €0.30 

Recycling Allowance             Unlimited 

Compost Allowance             Unlimited 

That will be effectively a flat annual charge of €210 for me as I put the black bin out usually only once/qtr. Now some of you might be jealous but as a singleton Im a fairly light user and my annual bill for a much smaller annual charge plus per lift and per kilo charges on all bins was coming to about 140 a year so this is a c.50% increase, well above inflation.

I've seen Greyhound collecting household bins in Fingal

Panda provide different rates depending on what County Council the property is in.

Panda has two plans for Fingal. Standard and lite plans. Will see if I can find it. More than likely both have gone up.

I doubt it because Panda do not publish their prices and these prices vary by collection area.

Who is that with and where is it?

South County Dublin here and this is our new plan

Your Service plan for the coming year effective 1st May 2023 is outlined below:

Quarterly Service Charge                  €52.50

Quarterly General Waste Allowance  105Kg

General Waste Excess per Kg           €0.30

Recycling Allowance                          Unlimited

Compost Allowance                           Unlimited

We had annual charge and per lift and per kilo weight charges previously. We use compost bins in garden so only garden waste into the 'brown bin' and it is too small but cannot have a larger size. We take glass to local bottle banks. Big increase but will have to dig out old bills to itemise.

Suggest change the title of this thread to 'Panda Bins'

I'm in DLR area and got no notification of any increase from Panda.

I'm on a monthly direct debit, though I've just noticed they didn't charge me in March for some reason. I'll check with them on Monday.