Keen competition from private bin firms could force council to wall

KEEN competition from private bin collectors could force Tralee Town Council out of business.

Today is D-Day for the cash-strapped council, which may be dissolved if it fails to adopt a budget for 2004 at a meeting tonight. A third of its 6,500 customers have switched to private waste operators and the council could lose €400,000 if it continues the service this year.

It is faced with the dilemma of handing over bin collection to the undercutting private operators, or finding money through cuts in other services it provides.