Talks bid to avert waste collection strikes at BNM Recycling

Strike is due to begin on Thursday

Wed, 18 Jun, 2025 - 13:02

Martin Claffey

Siptu representatives will meet with the management of Bord na Móna Recycling in Portlaoise on Wednesday afternoon in a bid to avert strike action due to take place on Thursday.

The strike comes as BNM Recycling, Ireland's last publicly owned domestic waste collection service, is to be sold to Munster waste management company KWD. Siptu representatives rejected a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) proposal aimed at solving the dispute as the union sought a Registered Employment Agreement which would protect members' terms and conditions.

The strike action is due to commence at 4am on Thursday morning and will see pickets placed on nine Bord na Móna Recycling depots across midland counties and Dublin. Strikes are then planned to escalate in the following weeks.

The strike will see pickets placed on nine Bord na Móna Recycling depots across the Midlands and Dublin. On Tuesday, talks ended without agreement but will reconvene on Wednesday afternoon.

"This dispute is an issue of national importance as its outcome is crucial to the future of the domestic waste collection sector in Ireland. Our engagement with the company is focused on the industrial relations issues concerning Bord na Móna Recycling. However, the future of domestic waste collection services is of major political importance and the Government has a crucial role to play," said Siptu divisional organiser, Adrian Kane.

BNM Recycling operates services in Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Offaly, Meath, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow. KWD operates waste and recycling services in Kerry, Cork, and Limerick. In April, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) cleared the proposed sale to KWD subject to KWD divesting a certain number of domestic and ‘commercial & industrial’ customers to another waste collection provider.