Press release
Residential waste collection costs remain stable in October
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
October 2019 data – Residential waste collection firms actively monitored by the Price Monitoring Group revealed one of the lowest rates of price change during the month of October than at any point since this series began.
The October price data is based on analysis conducted across multiple licensed residential waste collection firms. This comprises 19 individual companies, with some firms operating in more than one area. In total, 26 markets are monitored.
Pricing landscape for residential waste collection is complex
Many of the waste collection firms monitored offer multiple waste collection packages to their customers. This means there are far more waste collection packages than firms.
There was no change in the total number of price packages which stands at 8. Examples of price packages include: Service charge plus per kg weight charge; E-tag and other options (a full list of all pricing packages is incorporated with this report under the data analysis). The total number of waste collection price packages, across all of the monitored firms was 48, a decrease of one from the previous month (a full breakdown of all service offers is included in the data part of this report).
Where prices did change
The October price variations are as follows:
Service Provider N – Increased the monthly service charge from €24.50 to €25 - (Service charge including weight allowance plus per KG charge for excess weight above allowance).
Service Provider C – Decreased per KG waste charge from €0.35 to €0.33 on waste and decreased the compost charge from €0.21 to €0.19 – (Service Charge plus per KG Weight Charge).
Service Provider F – Decreased the service charge from €27.83 to €26.00 - (Service Charge plus Weight Band Charge).
Communication of price data
During the October price monitoring campaign, there were no significant issues attaining price information from firms. However, as can be the case from time to time, it should be noted that some staff that are assigned to answer phones and pricing queries may not always be fully familiar with those prices. On other occasions, websites can be a little cumbersome to navigate but in an overall context, firms appear to be making every effort to make good communication a priority.
Other price/cost factors
It is important members of the public are aware of the rules applied to waste collection as this can, in some situations, have a cost impact. For example, waste collection firms have the right to sanction service users where, for example, they fail to keep recycling waste loose when placed in the recycling bins. For example, paper waste placed in a paper bags which are then placed in a recycling bin can violate the terms of service which waste collection firms can take action against. On this basis, on the matter of recycling material and its collection, it is really important residential users are familiar with the requirements set out by their waste collection firm.
Why information is anonymised
The purpose of the Price Monitoring Group is to establish and track whether the prices householders pay for the collection of household waste fluctuates and if so, by how much. It does this by using a mystery-shopping approach to a proportion of licensed waste collection firms. However, since price monitoring is not carried out on a whole-of-market basis, it is not in a position to publish names of those firms that are actively monitored.
Composition of the PMG
The group comprises representatives from:
To date, the Price Monitoring Group has met on twenty-seven separate occasions: 13th September, 11th 2017, October, 14th November, 12th December, 9th January 2018, 13th February, 13th of March, 10th April, 14th, May, 20th June, 17th July, August 14th, September 11th, October 16th, November 14th, December 11th 2018, January 15th 2019, February 12th, March 14th, April 9th , May 14th June 11th, July 9th, August 20th 2019, September 10th, 2019, October 8th 2019 and November 12th 2019.
Report can be found here
ENDS
Submissions to: pricemonitoringgroup@dccae.gov.ie
Please note this email has been put in place to facilitate the submission of relevant price information to the Group. The Group will consider all submission that can help inform it in respect to prices residential users pay for the collection of residential waste. Unfortunately, the Group is not in a position to respond to individual submissions at this time.