Cheaper and Better Waste Collection in Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown

taung

Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown Co. Co. have a bit of competition with regard to waste/recyclabes collections;

Panda



Panda are promising;

- 20% cheaper than DLRCC
- to collect plastic recyclables (DLRCC won't do this)
- tocollect recyclables every two week (DLRCC collect once per month)

The price comparison is;

DLRCC Annual Charge 80
PANDA Annual Charge 64

DLRCC Bin Lift Charge 4
PANDA Bin Lift Charge 3.20

DLRCC Bin Per Kg Charge 0.25
PANDA Bin Per Kg Charge 0.20


and free bin collection for remainder of 2006......looks like a no brainer....

caster

Yeah, got a flyer in the door from them yesterday.... i wonder how realiable they are.... anyone using them?

qwertz

Just received a cold call from that company. Avoid them like the black death.

cormie

I think if the fact they cold call is the only reason not to use them, then that's a positive thing.

ROVER

Take a look at :
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055019850

taung

Well, Panda were due to collect my bins today.....no sign of them at all.

Rang up customer care and found out I had been sent the wrong calendar for the bin collection days.....not such a good start for Panda for me.

Let's hope they collect my bins later on this week.....I will report back here on the outcome.

Meanwhile, on the waste collection competition front another new entrant has entered the Dublin market.....Access Waste

Access Waste charges are;

Service Charge: €40 per quarter
Lift Charge: €0
Weight Charge: €0.20 per kg

So, the price comparison now is;



DLRCC Annual Charge €80
PANDA Annual Charge €64
Access Annual Charge €160

DLRCC Bin Lift Charge €4
PANDA Bin Lift Charge €3.20
Access Bin Lift Charge €0


DLRCC Bin Per Kg Charge €0.25
PANDA Bin Per Kg Charge €0.20
Access Bin Per Kg Charge €0.20

So, for most users their service is more expensive than Panda's....if you are putting out your bin every week then Access will work out cheaper.

Also Access don't specify whether they collect recyclable plastics (Panda collect recyclable plastics).

taung

Well, Panda collected my bins yesterday, as promised. Let's hope they keep up a good level of service.

Tabitharose

will you keep us up to date on how you get on over a couple of months with them as I'd like to see how it works out long term before deciding on changing

cormie

Hi,
Any update on this? I want to sign up to them today or Monday if all is ok:)

taung

Well, they have made a few mess ups regarding the collection days;

- wrong calendar sent out
- wrong days marked for January collections in updated calendar

and I still haven't received a bill from them, but, in fairness they have rectified their mistakes quickly and are up damn early (make sure the bins are out before 7am) to collect the bins.

cormie

Isn't there something about not being billed until February?

Even though they have messed up, would you still recommend them? The whole plastic/cheaper thing seems to good not to go with them!

taung

Apologies for the delay in responding; yes, I would recommend them. Their service is now stable and excellent.

taung

Greenstar are attempting to win some of the business that Panda has taken from DLRCOCO;


Greenstar are promising;

- 30% cheaper than DLRCC
- to collect glass recyclables (once a month, charge: €5)
- to collect other recyclables every two weeks

The price comparison is;

DLRCC Annual Charge €80
PANDA Annual Charge €64
Greenstar Annual Charge €56

DLRCC Bin Lift Charge €4
PANDA Bin Lift Charge €3.20
Geenstar Bin Lift Charge €2.80

DLRCC Bin Per Kg Charge 0.25
PANDA Bin Per Kg Charge 0.20
Greenstar Bin Per Kg Charge €0.175

DLRCOCO Glass Bin Lift: Service Not Provided
Panda Glass Bin Lift: Service Not Provided
Greenstar Glass Bin Lift: €5

cormie

That's pretty good of greenstar. Do they also collect plastics and collect everything else panda does and do the green bin twice a month?

I'm with Panda myself and they are fine... but... I changed over in January when I first moved into my place and because of moving, I had a lot of stuff for the black bin (I even chopped up a big chair nobody wanted- I tried jumbletown.ie! lol). So that was a full bin load, at the end of January... since then, because of the great green bin service of plastics and I have a compost bin too, I haven't had ONE black bin collection. In fact, my black bin is only about 1/4 full, if even.. so if things keep going the way they go, it wont be full for another year and a half, in which I'll have paid basically €130 for one black bin to be collected (since the green is free anyway).:o

I rang up asking could I get the smaller bin and Panda said yes, but it would be the same price:rolleyes:

So I'm wondering is there any way I can still get the green bin service, without the black bin? Since I use so little black bin waste, maybe €10-15 euro worth every 2 years including lift charge and weight, I don't really want to pay €130 for the service of having it removed, so I could just put my bags in my neighbours bin or something and pay them a bit towards it instead. Or is there any other service that would suit me does anyone know? That would still have green bin collection of course:)

taung

cormie wrote:

That's pretty good of greenstar. Do they also collect plastics and collect everything else panda does and do the green bin twice a month?

I'm with Panda myself and they are fine... but... I changed over in January when I first moved into my place and because of moving, I had a lot of stuff for the black bin (I even chopped up a big chair nobody wanted- I tried jumbletown.ie! lol). So that was a full bin load, at the end of January... since then, because of the great green bin service of plastics and I have a compost bin too, I haven't had ONE black bin collection. In fact, my black bin is only about 1/4 full, if even.. so if things keep going the way they go, it wont be full for another year and a half, in which I'll have paid basically €130 for one black bin to be collected (since the green is free anyway).:o

I rang up asking could I get the smaller bin and Panda said yes, but it would be the same price:rolleyes:

So I'm wondering is there any way I can still get the green bin service, without the black bin? Since I use so little black bin waste, maybe €10-15 euro worth every 2 years including lift charge and weight, I don't really want to pay €130 for the service of having it removed, so I could just put my bags in my neighbours bin or something and pay them a bit towards it instead. Or is there any other service that would suit me does anyone know? That would still have green bin collection of course:)

I don't know for sure if Greenstar collect recyclable plastics; I would guess that they do. (It would be very difficult for them to win Panda customers if the didn't do this....in fact even the legacy bin collector, DLRCOCO, are introducing collection of plastic bottles throughout their area as we speak....)

You should not look on the annual service charge as the charge for lifting your black bins....this fee covers the cost of lifting your green bins and, if you pay it to DLRCOCO it also covers the cost of running the recycling centres.

cormie

taung wrote:

You should not look on the annual service charge as the charge for lifting your black bins....this fee covers the cost of lifting your green bins and, if you pay it to DLRCOCO it also covers the cost of running the recycling centres.

I thought they profit from taking and selling the recyclables which is why they do it for free

taung

Are you joking me??? It costs way more to collect, grade and recycle goods than their re-saleable value (unless you're recycling gold/diamonds!!!)......

Cameraman

taung wrote:

- to collect other recyclables every two weeks (DLRCC collect once per month)

DLRCC now collect the green bins twice a month and are allowing recyclable plastic - ain't competition wonderful....

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Cameraman wrote:

ain't competition wonderful....

Yea but do you remember that company out in Bray, Finnegan's or something, they priced the council out of the market and then jacked their prices up when the council pulled out!

cormie

Sure is:D funny how they all suddenly drop their prices/improve service so much and can still run a very successful business:rolleyes:

I wasn't joking taung:o But it's free to bring all these recyclables to the likes of Ballyogan anyway. Suppose €64 aint too bad for the service though.

sean222

Sean_K wrote:

Yea but do you remember that company out in Bray, Finnegan's or something, they priced the council out of the market and then jacked their prices up when the council pulled out!

wasn't that company in Bray Noble? they have been bought by Greenstar who've got loadsa money as they're owned by National Toll Roads - nuff said. i've done the prices and Panda work out cheaper - they are now taking glass in the green bin - free

cormie

sean222 wrote:

wasn't that company in Bray Noble? they have been bought by Greenstar who've got loadsa money as they're owned by National Toll Roads - nuff said. i've done the prices and Panda work out cheaper - they are now taking glass in the green bin - free

Panda are now taking glass??

taung

sean222 wrote:

wasn't that company in Bray Noble? they have been bought by Greenstar who've got loadsa money as they're owned by National Toll Roads - nuff said. i've done the prices and Panda work out cheaper - they are now taking glass in the green bin - free

This can't be right, taking glass with the same collection as paper and plastic is going to make their recycling process pretty dangerous......do they sort through the bin to separate out the glass before collecting it?

ROVER

I asked Panda about glass when I was paying my bill over the phone - From the 1st of September Panda will take glass. Just throw it in your green bin no extra charge. They sort the contents of the truck by machine at depot.:)

Krusty_Clown

It's not free to bring recyclables to Ballyogan. It's paid for by your taxes.
They also charge an additional fee for many types of material.

Also, there's no delivery charge associated with recycling in Ballyogan (as you bring the material to them) whereas for the Green bin, you're paying for the company to come and collect your waste/recyclable packaging.

ROVER

Krusty_Clown wrote:

Also, there's no delivery charge associated with recycling in Ballyogan (as you bring the material to them) whereas for the Green bin, you're paying for the company to come and collect your waste/recyclable packaging.

Krusty I might be missing your point but there is no charge for the green bin collection. It is included with the cost of your black bin. (ie no additional charge if you have a green collection or not).

Krusty_Clown

ROVER wrote:

Krusty I might be missing your point but there is no charge for the green bin collection. It is included with the cost of your black bin. (ie no additional charge if you have a green collection or not).

Sorry for being unclear. There is a charge associated with your green bin, but it's part of the annual service charge. It's not free. (The same goes for the other suppliers).

Panda etc. will charge you an annual service charge, even if you do not put out your black bin at all. The previous poster could not switch to just having them collect his green bin, and expect to get away without an annual service charge.

cormie

Quite disappointing, look what I found:

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/recycling-is-ending-up-in-the-dump-1062046.html

That's true Krusty, at the rate I'm going, I'll only have to put my black bin out every 2 years or so. So I'm pretty much paying the annual fee for recycling only.

paldude

Received a confirmation from Panda that they will take glass in Green bin...

---

From: Stiofain MacDhaibhead
Sent: Wed 22/08/2007 08:47
Subject: Panda service


Hi Paul,

Many thanks for your email, very interesting to read that bulletin board. Yes competition is great for the consumer as ultimately they are the real winner with improved services and better prices.

Yes indeed we will be accepting glass in the green bin as and from the first of September, this service will be free of charge to our customers. Other operators will collect glass but will charge €60 per year which must go into a third bin something which most customers (we canvassed 1,000 customers) are against due to space restraints.

We are currently writing to all our 16,000 customers to notify them of the improvements to our service. If you require any further information please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks again.

Stiofain MacDhaibhead

Sales & Marketing Manager
Panda Waste Services
Beauparc Business Park
Navan, Co. Meath

1850 656565

taung

And the Panda service has been improved again; Panda now accept electrical items in the "Green" bin. As far as I know this is only applicable to the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown collection area at the moment.

.....now, maybe if I jump up and down on the Green bin lid I can squeeze in that old washing machine that I've been meaning to get rid of for a while!