The Government wants to introduce a mandatory cap on bin charges and has sought legal advice to clarify if it has to power to do so.

Environment Minister Simon Coveney is hoping to press ahead with legislation to introduce a mandatory cap on bin charges with or without the agreement of bin companies.

Bin operators face a threat of their charges being capped or a new charging regime being postponed as the Government moves to calm anxieties over pay-by-weight refuse collections.

Local authorities have warned of a surge in fly-tipping and illegal dumping following the introduction of controversial pay-by-weight bin charges next month.

The Government has performed a last-minute U-turn on its controversial plan to make householders pay for the collection of recycled waste.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned waste facilities to improve standards of operation and storage as it was revealed that six companies were fined a total of €86,000 for licensing breaches in 2013.

Up to 80% of all houses are expected to have a brown bin by 2018 as Ireland becomes more environmentally friendly.

Bin collection companies whose service is rubbish will automatically have their permits to operate reviewed under new regulatory powers next year.

EVEN without the controversial Poolbeg incinerator, Ireland is on track to comply with EU landfill targets, a report claims.

WASTE collectors have hit out at plans by the Government to reform the existing system of collecting household waste which they claim will increase refuse charges for consumers and threaten up to 5,000 jobs in the sector.

The Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA) says it strongly opposes Government plans to restructure the waste collection market.

LOW landfill levies and the Poolbeg incinerator stalemate are blocking a multi-million euro investment and the creation of hundreds of jobs, waste recycling companies have claimed.

Representatives of Dublin waste companies claim they have the capacity to create new waste facilities for the capital that would generate 235 new jobs.

PRIVATE waste operators want a contract for the planned Poolbeg incinerator publicly released after it emerged that a “get out” clause exists between city chiefs and the company behind the waste facility.

Dublin City Council has been urged to re-negotiate the proposed Poolbeg incinerator.

The Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has called on the Environment Minister and Dublin City Council to clarify if there is a cost to the taxpayer if a contract for an incinerator in the capital is broken.

The Competition Authority has rejected a series of complaints regarding the planned Poolbeg Incinerator which had been lodged by the Irish Waste Management Association.

An independent review has been ordered into the controversial waste incinerator in south Dublin, the Government confirmed today.

The country’s leading think-tank today revealed it will not be withdrawing a report on a controversial incinerator heavily criticised by opponents of the scheme.

WASTE collection operators have called for an immediate stoppage to all works on the controversial incinerator at Poolbeg in Dublin after the Economic and Social Research Institute admitted its recentreport on waste management policy contained some errors.

Opponents of a controversial incinerator today questioned the independence of a study by a leading think-tank backing the scheme.

The Environment Minister John Gormley tonight vowed to press ahead with plans restricting incineration as the company behind Dublin’s Poolbeg plant intends to begin work next month.

There has been widespread criticism of the decision by Dublin City Council to issue notice of construction on the controversial incinerator at Poolbeg.

THE Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA) is to work with Government to find a long-term solution to the problem of the collapse of markets for recycled waste.

The Minister for the Environment has claimed that problems with recycling in this country are only temporary.

TWENTY county and city councils have withdrawn from rubbish collection leaving the service entirely to private operators.

The Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA), an affiliate of IBEC, welcomed yesterday the publication of the new Market Development Programme for recycled materials but said it believes the Government must also address market inequalities facing private waste operators.

Ireland could be brought to the European Court of Justice in relation to its treatment of public bodies as non-taxable, it emerged today.

Some 230,000 tonnes of household waste is believed to have been disposed of illegally in 2004 when almost a quarter of homes did not have a bin collection service.

A GUIDE on waste management to help small business was launched yesterday by business employer group IBEC and AIB Bank.

HUGE landfill costs are forcing private refuse collection companies to export waste, a national organisation claimed yesterday.