Two more companies bring cost of bin tags up to €12

Another week, another increase in the cost of waste disposal. Two companies, Allied Waste and Wallace Recycling, have just increased the cost of a refuse bin tag to €12 (from €10.50) and brought the cost of a recycling bin tag up to €6 (from €4.50). A third company, Oxigen, brought its prices up to the same level in late January. It's the second price hike the three companies have introduced within the last four months and one local woman commented that people were now coming under increasing pressure over the rising cost of emptying their bins. "There have been a lot of complaints about it. People are just wondering where it's going to end," said Marie Reddin, who is chairperson of the Ashdale / Woodlands Grove Residents' Association. "I think any extra charge is too much given the cuts that we've had to endure. I don't know where these companies think people are going to get the money from. I'm afraid that because of this we'll again see the type of dumping we had a number of years ago." Ms Reddin added: "It's the basic things people are worried about now, like the food bill and the electricity bill. It's not luxury holidays or anything like that." Wallace Recycling announced the latest price hike online, with a post on its facebook page. The company said the increased cost of the Government's landfill levy had left it with no other option but to increase the price of its bin tags. In the statement, company founder Michael Wallace said: "This runs totally against the philosophy of Wallace Recycling since Linda and I started the service. We have been tightening the screws for the past number of years in the hopes that we wouldn't have to increase (prices) at all. "But as the landfill levy was introduced it made it impossible to keep the prices as low as they were. The Wallace tag has always been competitive both in Westmeath and Longford where we started and then more recently in Tullamore where we actually drove down the local prices when we started collecting there in February 2011. "Unfortunately, over the years landfill prices have been steadily increasing and up to now we have been absorbing these costs and making cuts within the business. However, the recent increase to the landfill levy introduced by Phil Hogan, the Minister for the Environment, was just a step too far. "On top of an already contracting market for recyclable commodities globally, our business cannot sustain that sort of a double body-blow and we reluctantly have to increase our prices now or risk losing local jobs." A comparison with the prices local residents had to pay to empty their bins last August shows the extent of the recent rise in waste disposal costs. At that stage, a tag for a regular bin cost €7 (Oxigen), €7.50 (Allied Waste) or €8 (Wallace Recycling). By bringing the cost up to €12, Oxigen's price has risen by 71%. Allied Waste and Wallace Recycling have increased the price of their regular tags by 60% and 50% respectively.