Waste fee unchanged by council’s €2m grant

COUNTY Waterford householders will continue to have to shell out a flat fee of €150 per annum for their waste collection service, though the council has received a €2 million plus grant to help meet the cost of dealing with landfills in the region.

And there is no threat to the council-provided service, despite the number of people opting for private waste collection providers in an effort to reduce their refuse costs, Waterford County Council says.

Despite earlier threats to the publicly-provided waste service, it will continue, according to senior engineer in environment with Waterford County Council, Paul Daly.

But the flat fee just to have a refuse service will also stay. Of the €150 charge, €45 is to cover the additional cost of transporting and disposing of waste to an alternate landfill; €90 was for the loss of income from the council’s own landfills and €15 was to go to remediation of old landfills.

“The flat charge was calculated on the basis we would get the grants to remediate our landfills at Tramore and Dungarvan. Had we not got the grant, it would have had a negative impact on our finances.

“We have upwards of 8,500 customers. This number is sufficient for us to maintain the service. We should be starting to begin work on the Tramore landfill soon.

“We will be beginning the gas collection infrastructure. Dungarvan will follow shortly afterwards. We will then be left with open, flat ground,” he said.

He said the sooner the landfills were capped, the sooner the potentially dangerous gas emissions will be stopped. Once these works have been completed, the landfills would then be covered by a vast topsoil layer.

Earlier this summer, both Waterford City Council and Waterford County Council were fined in the courts for the manner in which they finished off their landfill sites. In both cases, it was heard that neither authority was neglectful in its duty. They simply did not have the money for the work.

Cost by county per household for waste in 2006:

County Annual Cost

Waterford (County Council Collection) €363

Waterford (Private Collection) €432

Cork County €340*

Cork City €385*

Carlow €390*

Kilkenny €395

South Tipperary €439

Wexford €516

Limerick €418*

* Based on 2005 charges. All other costs based on 2006 charges.