Government in U-turn on green waste charges

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

The move had come in for criticism from homeowners, lamenting another household charge and from the Greens, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, and the Anti Austerity Alliance which said it removed any incentive to divert recyclables from their black bin waste which heads to landfill.

Under the new pay-by- weight pricing structure, the Government is obliging waste companies to charge customers a minimum: n 11c per kilo for black bin waste. n 6c per kilo for brown bin compostable waste, which includes leftover food and garden waste.