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Dublin City Council - Bin Collection Privatised/Greyhound Megathread

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 275 ✭✭Bistoman


    lardossan wrote: »
    Why, because I pointed out that it's fairly straightforward to use their website and because I live within my own means? I guess then yes, I am a moron.

    No, Not because You have managed you debts very well, But because You dont seem to understand that a lot of people are experiencing very harsh financial hardships, and this surprise charge has caught a lot of people unawares.
    Fair play to You that you are doing OK, But this charge should not have been placed on everyone without any prier notice.


  • Registered Users Posts: 741 ✭✭✭Stripey Cat


    Voting for the budget which supports DCC exiting (what a lovely word) the waste collection "market", and then saying you are against this privatisation is crazy.

    If DCC are going to stop collecting the bins (exiting the market) then obviously a private company is going to be getting involved. Who else is going to take over? The Army?

    And since when was the collection and disposal of waste a business which has to make money?

    Are there any other loss making things that DCC do which they should "exit"?

    What about the street lighting? That doesn't make any money.
    Or the Arts department? Do the Parks make money? Should the Libraries market be "exited" too?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,325 ✭✭✭lensman


    lardossan wrote: »
    Why, because I pointed out that it's fairly straightforward to use their website and because I live within my own means? I guess then yes, I am a moron.
    I don't say you are a moron & we should not start insulting each other, the fact is that we all have been treated in an appalling manner by DCC & greyhound & I for one don't feel like rolling over to be shafted again without even being properly consulted by DCC, the city manager (John Tierney manager@dublincity.ie) has acted like a pimp & sold us off to a private company & we had no say in the matter.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 41,926 ✭✭✭✭_blank_


    Everyone calm down and stop the personal abuse


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 854 ✭✭✭dubscottie


    Tried DCC and Greyhound but can get no answer..

    We were the only street in our area which never got a brown bin a couple of years back. A quick phone call to Marrowbone Lane and they told us that, as we didn't have a brown bin, our black one would be emptied weekly, which is what they have been doing for the past 3 years or so.

    Is my black bin still going to be emptied weekly? If not are DDC going to give us free Pest Control when our street is over-run with Rats??


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  • Registered Users Posts: 275 ✭✭Bistoman


    dubscottie wrote: »
    Tried DCC and Greyhound but can get no answer..

    We were the only street in our area which never got a brown bin a couple of years back. A quick phone call to Marrowbone Lane and they told us that, as we didn't have a brown bin, our black one would be emptied weekly, which is what they have been doing for the past 3 years or so.

    Is my black bin still going to be emptied weekly? If not are DDC going to give us free Pest Control when our street is over-run with Rats??
    It looks like the Black and Brown bins will be collected on the same day, I cant find out if this means that Two trucks will come on the same day or if all the separated waste will be dumped in the same bin truck. Only Joe Duffy can save us now.
    :(


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,325 ✭✭✭lensman


    Bistoman wrote: »
    Only Joe Duffy can save us now.
    :(
    we're bolloxed in that case :eek:


  • Registered Users Posts: 741 ✭✭✭Stripey Cat


    dubscottie wrote: »

    Is my black bin still going to be emptied weekly? If not are DDC going to give us free Pest Control when our street is over-run with Rats??

    There is no money in pest control though. Why should DCC stay in the rat catching market?


  • Registered Users Posts: 23,246 ✭✭✭✭Dyr


    lensman wrote: »
    I have just emailed all the councillors here in D7,Cabra / Glasnevin & North Inner City , here are the replys so far.
    Cllr Christy Burke North Inner City (Independent)
    " There was no vote it was a City managers call At the debate i spoke against the transfare .That was last monday week in City hall .This morning i have sent a motion to the lord mayor calling for a Spl C C meeting on the matter"
    Cllr Claire O’Regan North Inner City (Labour)
    "There was no vote. The Labour group on the City Council opposed the privatisation of the waste collection service, but under the Protection of the Environment Act 2003, which was enacted by Fianna Fail, the decision to privatise the service was within the power of Dublin City Council management ONLY, NOT elected councillors. The Councillors issued motions and voted on a number of occasions to oppose the privatisation, but our wishes were ignored by the Council management who were under no obligation to take any notice of any motions. Neither we we made aware of the payment in advance provision."
    Councillor Mary O'Shea Cabra / Glasnevin (Fine Gael)
    I too am outraged in relation to the treament of DCC customers.
    In relation to voting,the direct answer is that I did not vote as there was no vote in relation to the transfer of the bin collection.The Waste Management Act 1996 allows management alone to make the decision.In the interests of clarity I voted for the budget which was passed on the basis of DCC exiting the waste management collection market.The vote was 33 for,1 against and 9 abstensions.The 1 against was Jim O'Callaghan the FF Councillor from Pembroke Rathmines.I supported the budget and the exit from the market as it would have been irresponsible to do otherwise and support the provision of a service which it cost the Council €45 million to provide and which generated an income of €20million.
    I am apalled at the manner in which DCC management has handled this matter as I too and all of my fellow Councillors were promised a seamless transfer.
    I trust that this clarifies my position on the matter.

    Mary O'Shea gets points for honesty anyway. Claire O'Reagan? Well shes in the slave labour party so I'd expect no better. :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,139 ✭✭✭olaola


    Oddly enough our bins were collected yesterday (Inchicore, Bulfin) I thought I’d put them out for the craic, and see what happened! And we also received our 'information' pack from Greyhound in the post yesterday too. Which was the first communication we have seen in relation to the bin changes.
    We haven't paid ANYTHING to Greyhound, and I'm sure our DCC account is in arrears.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,784 ✭✭✭Dirk Gently


    is claire o regan telling porkie pies? The blueshirt reckons one person voted against the budget which included privatisation. Claire says the labour group were against privatisation. By "against" does she mean voting for it anyway or abstaining?

    Privatisation isn't really the issue though, it's the mannor in which it was done with no notice and no provision for competition. There is also the transparency issue, the conditions in the contract need to be made public. The councillors seem unaminous on that front in pointing the finger at city managers.


  • Registered Users Posts: 426 ✭✭Baneblade


    and drops a point for not realising what she was voting on.


    looking at her reply jim o'callaghan is the only person who can honestly say he voted againt the privatisation of waste collection.


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,113 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    it's the mannor in which it was done with no notice and no provision for competition
    Are you still on this? Competition is allowed (as you can see on the south/west sides of the city. As per the post above, Thorntons are now looking into expanding their business. Some parts of the northside seem to be covered by other private companies

    A private company choosing to not enter a market isn't the same as DCC not allowing competition


  • Registered Users Posts: 668 ✭✭✭Fizzlesque


    [/QUOTE] I'm more interested in if other people on here from the northside have managed to source alternatives. I thought it would be quicker than waiting for dub city to get back to me.[/QUOTE]

    So far, no. I've tried Thorntons, Greenstar, Panda and looked at Access' site and none of them service Finglas (which is where I am). I've also been looking online for an alternative and it would appear there isn't one.

    Quite simply, I don't have 80e to pay (for the small bin the yearly charge is 80e) upfront, and I've heard a few negative stories about Greyhound's service so, for now, I'm going to sort out my waste needs myself. Most of my waste involves the green bin anyway so I'll take that to the recycling centre myself (on my trustee bicycle) and my compost bin takes care of most of my food waste (what it doesn't take the birds can eat) and it looks like I'll be lighting the fire in my house a lot more in the future. There'll always be something difficult to get rid of (biros keep coming into my mind for some reason :confused:) but I'm sure I'll find a way that doesn't involve breaking the law or spending money that could be better spent elsewhere (as soon as I have some).


  • Registered Users Posts: 275 ✭✭Bistoman


    Dodge wrote: »
    Are you still on this? Competition is allowed (as you can see on the south/west sides of the city. As per the post above, Thorntons are now looking into expanding their business. Some parts of the northside seem to be covered by other private companies

    A private company choosing to not enter a market isn't the same as DCC not allowing competition
    I think Dirk was suggesting that it seems like it never went to public tender, witch I think is required by law.


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,113 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    Just a quick ord of advice for anybody thinking of leaving Greyhound, make sure you write to them to tell them you're not aviling of their services.

    You don't want to get to a situation where 3/4 months down the line you have enough money to pay upfront, only to find out you're technically in arrears, and your €100 will only do for the period January 2012-January 2013 (as your 'custom' was automatically transferred to them from DCC)

    I don't know if this is the case, but I'd make sure I let them know.

    I doubt if you wanted to become a 'new' customer in April/june/whatever, they're turn you down


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,113 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    Bistoman wrote: »
    I think Dirk was suggesting that it seems like it never went to public tender, witch I think is required by law.

    That wouldn't really effect the level of competition though

    Obviously there's concerns there too


  • Registered Users Posts: 668 ✭✭✭Fizzlesque


    Dodge wrote: »
    Just a quick ord of advice for anybody thinking of leaving Greyhound, make sure you write to them to tell them you're not aviling of their services.

    You don't want to get to a situation where 3/4 months down the line you have enough money to pay upfront, only to find out you're technically in arrears, and your €100 will only do for the period January 2012-January 2013 (as your 'custom' was automatically transferred to them from DCC)

    I don't know if this is the case, but I'd make sure I let them know.

    I doubt if you wanted to become a 'new' customer in April/june/whatever, they're turn you down

    Yeah, it's probably worth doing for the reason you mention (which I hadn't thought of) but, also, I'd quite like to let them know their upfront demand is why I was looking elsewhere and refuse to be strongarmed into (a) using them and (b) paying for a whole year in advance. It's a pity Greenstar don't service Finglas (they have sent a letter offering to service Dublin 2, which is where my office is, so they do cover some of DCC's old turf) I'd have given them my business if they did.

    Apparently it's possible to bring household waste to North Strand and Ringsend recycling centres (4euro a bag - black refuse sack - for household waste and 2euro a bag for green waste), so, thankfully, there's more than one way to skin this particular cat.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,325 ✭✭✭lensman


    I've emailed the Dublin city manager informing him that my consent was not sought or given in relation to the transfer & therefor I still consider myself to be a customer of DCC regarding bin collections, I also stated same for transfer of any arrears or in credit balance....no reply as yet, also nobody in my area has received any post/info pack from greyhound or DCC in relation to the transfer...green bins were put out this morning as was normal under DCC & have not been lifted.


  • Registered Users Posts: 444 ✭✭Ernest


    Yesterday every house on my road had their green bins out for collection - this used to be the fortnightly green bin collection day. Clearly nobody knew about the change that Dublin City Council are attempting to perpetrate on us without our consent.
    The City Manager is John Tierney. To contact your elected city councillors see the following link:
    http://www.dublincity.ie/YourCouncil/Councillors/YourLocalCouncillors/Pages/FindYourLocalCouncillorsHome.aspx


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,784 ✭✭✭Dirk Gently


    Dodge wrote: »
    Are you still on this?
    well considering the councillors themselves don't know the contents of the deal I'm not sure how you can be so sure it's just a matter of other companies deciding , "meh, we don't want the business".

    Dub city sold their waste collection service to greyhound. They done it very rapidly and in a way so as to hook their customers into signing up with greyhound for a year. Why didn't they make provision for 2 or 3 companies to openly compete for our custom.

    Dear customers, we no longer provide a bin service, here are your options for alternative providers...... (They didn't do this. They transferred the whole show to a single provider who they would have known would have a monopoly in a huge part of their administrate area by default of the way in which the collection service was sold.
    Under the Waste Management Act, (1996), all local authorities in Ireland are obliged to collect or arrange for the collection of the domestic waste in their area. They must also provide or arrange for the provision of facilities for the disposal and recovery of household waste. Household waste will generally be collected once a week, whether by a private operator or a local authority. They will follow a specific route and different areas will be serviced on different days.

    Under the terms of the Waste Management Act (1996) and the Waste Management (Planning) Regulations (1997), each local authority must prepare a waste management plan, giving details of how they will deal with the waste in their area. Domestic waste can be disposed of in different ways. Most local authorities provide waste collection services. However, private waste collectors are becoming more common. If you decide not to make use of organised waste collection, you can dispose of much of your own domestic waste by recycling, home composting and use of civic amenity centres.

    The council are ultimately responsible for domestic bin collection, whether through themselves or by arranging private operators to service areas.
    Do you really think it went unnoticed by Dub city and greyhound that no other operators serviced the northside or that by making it prepay on short notice that greyhound would have a 1 year monopoly? Did greyhound just get lucky?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,784 ✭✭✭Dirk Gently


    Bistoman wrote: »
    I think Dirk was suggesting that it seems like it never went to public tender, witch I think is required by law.

    As far as I know it did go to tender, but it's the conditions of that tender I'm interested in. Whether it be greyhound or any other company winning the tender the fact remains that only one company got it and by default got 1 years worth of custom due to the prepay within 30 days clause.

    There should have been a more orderly wind down, council giving a few months notice to customers and making sure multiple companies where in place with whom to switch to.


  • Registered Users Posts: 23,246 ✭✭✭✭Dyr


    Do you really think it went unnoticed by Dub city and greyhound that no other operators serviced the northside or that by making it prepay on short notice that greyhound would have a 1 year monopoly? Did greyhound just get lucky?

    I would have assumed DCC went through a tender process where all the big recycling companies were given a chance to vie for the contract and so would have know that this was coming down the line. Would be very irregular if there was no tender process. Although nothing suprises me about DCC


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,784 ✭✭✭Dirk Gently


    Bambi wrote: »
    I would have assumed DCC went through a tender process where all the big recycling companies were given a chance to vie for the contract and so would have know that this was coming down the line. Would be very irregular if there was no tender process. Although nothing suprises me about DCC

    see post above. I'm sure all the major players tendered and that greyhound was the eventual winner. My gripe is that dub city (1) awarded it to a single company (2) didn't notify customers until the clock was already ticking on their greyhound account (3) created a de facto monopoly on the northside by way of their timing of the abrupt transfer and pre-pay bill.

    I don't accept that the engineered northside monopoly wasn't very much at the centre of agreement.


  • Hosted Moderators Posts: 10,661 ✭✭✭✭John Mason


    i cannot believe that no other company services finglas. was on to OZO and will be in the next couple of months but they havent got a date yet.

    my friend works in the waste industry and they reckon greyhound is up to their eyes in debt and need this upfront money to keep the company afloat


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 177 ✭✭Emma1980


    problem you have though is that if ozo do come in in the northside in the next couple of months, you'll have already paid greyhound the non refundable 100euro for the year - unless of course you decide to dispose of your rubbish yourself in the meantime! It's a no win situation!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,784 ✭✭✭Dirk Gently


    irishbird wrote: »
    i cannot believe that no other company services finglas. was on to OZO and will be in the next couple of months but they havent got a date yet.
    how do they plan on getting people to switch when everyone will have paid greyhound a year in advance.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,325 ✭✭✭lensman


    Here's an interesting posts a few pages back http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=76478112&postcount=95
    If it's true greyhound didn't actually have the money to bid in the first place & got the DCC bin collection gig on a kind of (buy now pay later) deal, so greyhound need us all pay our €100 yearly charge up front so they have the money to honour the deal.....I would suspect greyhound covered the arse in a get out clause, ie: if they don't collect enough money up front they can back out of the deal.


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,113 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    how do they plan on getting people to switch when everyone will have paid greyhound a year in advance.

    Maybe no annual fee until jan 2013, and lower collection charges. I think if I was laucnhing his summer, thts the way I'd go


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 7,611 ✭✭✭david75


    bins werent collected today in dublin 7 and a lot of them now have red warning stickers on them from DCC. Not sure what they say though i was driving past.


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