Waste Collection options ? Celbridge

L1011

The government decided to remove compulsion to charge for green bins - they still can if they want

WishUWereHere

L1011 wrote: »

Have you checked that your bins are actually that weight? The weights will be recorded in your account online. My black bin has never been close to 40KG and the heaviest, rammed to the top, brown was 29. Average weight of both is a fraction.

Not doubting Your word L1011, but how the hell are You able to keep your brown bin weight so low? I only put my brown bin out when it's full, and have never once had it under 45 kgs, and the contents are only grass cuttings or food waste.

Buffman

WishUWereHere wrote: »

From the 1st of July 2016 any unused portion of your previously paid annual service charge will be credited back to your Thorntons' account.

Thanks for that.

WishUWereHere wrote: »

......I also find those who use their brown bin are also being seriously punished for doing so. Personally, I wouldn't doubt the 100kg weight of the bin, as I had 2 lifts around the 90kg mark. One was for 90.5 kgs, and for the 'privelidge' of lift said bin, my charge has increased from €4.90 to a WHOPPING €18.10. I would also query this 24.6233 kg reading - I have looked back over my lifting history, and in my case, they only register ONE decimal point, IE, either 26kg, 26'5kg or 27kg.

Ye, I'll be keeping a far closer eye on the weights from July on, previously like yourself, I only put out the bins when they were full, and wasn't overly concerned about weight on the pay per lift basis. I've also started composting in the last month which should take care of most of the garden waste.

WishUWereHere wrote: »

I have also heard whispers ( ONLY whispers mind ) that there is a charge built into what they are charging for each lift of both the grey & brown bin to compensate for not charging for the green bin. Impossible to prove of course, but when AK47 is involved, ANYTHING was/is possible.

Ye, I'd say a certain % of the charge is going to pay for the green bin, the operators certainly wouldn't be doing it for free and loosing money. Although with the service charge you're pretty much paying €2 per green lift based on the fortnightly cycle.

L1011

WishUWereHere wrote: »

Not doubting Your word L1011, but how the hell are You able to keep your brown bin weight so low? I only put my brown bin out when it's full, and have never once had it under 45 kgs, and the contents are only grass cuttings or food waste.

I put them out every time for smell reasons

donspeekinglesh

WishUWereHere wrote: »

Not doubting Your word L1011, but how the hell are You able to keep your brown bin weight so low? I only put my brown bin out when it's full, and have never once had it under 45 kgs, and the contents are only grass cuttings or food waste.

I only put grass cutting and food waste in mine - and it averages in the 20 to 30 kg range. only a few in the 40s.

Just added up the weights for the last 12 months, and we'd have saved €2.27 with the pay by weight...

WishUWereHere

OK, & how often would You put Your brown bin out? Last service year - february to february I put my brown bin out 8 times, with the least weight being 38kgs & the most being 90.5kgs.

On their old system ( current up to July 1) I would pay €39.20, but on the new charging regime, it would be €87,30. And yet Thornton's claim on their email that:

This legislation is designed to promote recycling and food composting in order to avoid waste.

Taking control of separating your waste will reduce your charges.

Who are they trying to kid? Tomorrow should be interesting when the working week re-starts.

donspeekinglesh

I'd put it out every collection during the grass cutting season, and maybe every 6/8 weeks over the winter.

L1011

Something else that I suspect has a (very slight) impact on the compost bin weights may be whether you put stuff in immediately or keep it in a caddy in the kitchen first. Doing the latter would dry out the waste a bit and it'll weigh less.

Don't have a huge amount of garden waste as currently I've no back lawn (bare earth) and the front one is tiny.

WishUWereHere

Well

Got an 'email recieved acknowledgement' from them this morning, but no reply.

Buffman

From what I'm reading over on the other threads in Consumer Issues and Bargain Alerts, Thorntons increases aren't as high as some of the other companies. Greyhound up to €3.25 a week service charge in Dublin!:eek:

Did anyone get anything from AES yet?

you2008

Buffman wrote: »

From what I'm reading over on the other threads in Consumer Issues and Bargain Alerts, Thorntons increases aren't as high as some of the other companies. Greyhound up to €3.25 a week service charge in Dublin!:eek:

Did anyone get anything from AES yet?[/QUOTE

there is price list for AES in maynooth bin post

Buffman

you2008 wrote: »

there is price list for AES in maynooth bin post

Thanks.

shoehorn wrote: »

From AES:

, The service charge is €90 for six months or €15 per month.

Waste bin = 25 cent per KG
Recycling bin = 0 cent per KG
Organic bin =Â 15 cent per KG
Glass Bin = 0 cent per KG

---

Not any cheaper sadly, because of 180 annual charge, unless your annual kg is very high.

Wow, €3.46 a week services charge with AES, albeit with a lower per kg cost, and a glass bin. As shoehorn says, you'd need to dump more to save anything with them.

Around my area at a glance I'd guess AES have less than 10% market share since OZO went to Thorntons, I wonder are AES looking to get out of the market altogether?

L1011

AESs phone customer service is either indifferent but cheerful or effective but downright abrasive - I would say that has repelled huge numbers of customers. My direct neighbours seem to be the only people on the street who still use them; down from probably 80% KCC (now AES) 20% Thorntons in the past.

Thorntons had a very bad rep in Maynooth over this: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/kildare-farmer-to-pay-10-000-for-playing-games-with-high-court-1.322543 etc - they are Padraig Thornton Waste Disposal Ltd - but AES being so bloody useless seemed to make that be forgotten!

I also paid for a service with a glass bin for nearly two years and never got the glass bin.

WishUWereHere

I have just done a cost analysis on AES based on my collections with Thornton's for the last payment year, and hate to say, AES are a LOT more expensive than Thornton's even with the new charges. I am basing my calculation for AES on the charges mentioned 2 posts ago:

Thornton's old price: €144.70
Thornton's new price: €232.25
AES charges $ 274.725

All these charges are based on the weights listed on my Thornton's account online.

Have emailed both Oxigen & Ray Whelan ( only 2 other options available here in my Estate ion Newbridge.

shoehorn

WishUWereHere wrote: »

I have just done a cost analysis on AES based on my collections with Thornton's for the last payment year, and hate to say, AES are a LOT more expensive than Thornton's even with the new charges. I am basing my calculation for AES on the charges mentioned 2 posts ago:

Thornton's old price: €144.70
Thornton's new price: €232.25
AES charges $ 274.725

All these charges are based on the weights listed on my Thornton's account online.

Have emailed both Oxigen & Ray Whelan ( only 2 other options available here in my Estate ion Newbridge.

Similar story here:
Thornton old: €164
Thornton new: €306 (+88%)
AES new: €327

Bottom line is, if you currently pay by lift with thorntons, and currently only put the bin out when full, you stand to pay a lot more under the new regime.
Panda due to publish prices in next couple of weeks I was told.

WishUWereHere

WishUWereHere wrote: »

I have just done a cost analysis on AES based on my collections with Thornton's for the last payment year, and hate to say, AES are a LOT more expensive than Thornton's even with the new charges. I am basing my calculation for AES on the charges mentioned 2 posts ago:

Thornton's old price: €144.70
Thornton's new price: €232.25
AES charges $ 274.725

All these charges are based on the weights listed on my Thornton's account online.

Have emailed both Oxigen & Ray Whelan ( only 2 other options available here in my Estate ion Newbridge.

Emailed both Oxigen and ray Whelan for their charges from July 1. Oxigen emailed me back within 24 hours saying they are still to publish their charges from July 1.

As for Ray Whelan? I emailed them on Thursday, and still waiting to hear anything from them. Won't be holding my breath there.

Joe Public

I've seen posts in Facebook from some people who have worked out what their charges will be under the pay by weight compared to the current pay by lift going by the records of what the weights of their lifts have been in the past year. Most have figured their waste bill will double from what it is now. I hope the government do a U turn on this one or tell the EU where to go.

Buffman

I got a letter from Thorntons, which as well as explaining the new charges, is trying to sign me up to a direct debit. (I use the pay per lift payzone card you top up.)

They must be worried they'll end up chasing people for money, as the weight of the waste is the full bin minus the empty bin, which can obviously only be calculated after the truck empties the bin. So with pay by weight, the truck won't know how much you owe until after it empties the bin, but you might not have had the credit to cover it.

With the pay per lift system, the truck automatically knew if you had enough credit for the lift before lifting, and wouldn't lift if you didn't. (Happened me once due to my own error.)

Not a hope in hell I'll be setting up a DD with them, as it leaves me wide open to massive bills I wouldn't know about until after they've taken the money out of the account, and the risk of being overdrawn.

Worst case scenario, say some a55hole decides to dump a load of rubble or something in my bin after I've put it out and left for work, (happened before, only found out as a neighbour saw it), you'll get way overcharged! Far safer to only have €20 in your bin account and be able to query charges with them rather than giving them free reign on your bank account.

Joe Public wrote: »

I hope the government do a U turn on this one or tell the EU where to go.

I wouldn't hold my breath, they'll still be getting their €75 per tonne landfill levy and extra VAT from the increased charges.

The only reason they backed down on the Green bin charges is that not even an Alan Kelly level of 'spin' could logically try to explain how recycling would be encouraged/increased if you charged for something which was previously 'free', and with him gone there was nobody arrogant enough to push it through, so they took the political path of least resistance. But even that's 'spin' because you're paying for the Green bin anyway through the service charges and the other bins.

Buffman

Just a quick reminder to those in Celbridge with Thorntons who would normally only put out the bin when it's full on the pay per lift (like myself), the last pay per lift of the brown is tomorrow 17th, and the last black pay per lift is the 30th.

Both of mine are pretty full so it'll be cheaper for me to have them emptied before July.

I see Thorntons website is advising people not to call due to busy phone lines, people must be doing their sums and coming to the same conclusions as us.

cgarvey

Just checking if any Thorntons pay per lift customers have/intend on switching? My own maths (as per weight/lift history) is inline with WishUWereHere/shoehorn above. Mine is about 2.5-3x more expensive now, but still less expensive than AES.

Current service charge gone from €50 to €104 (108%). Current per-KG charge (overage) gone from €0.20 to €0.35 (75%)

WishUWereHere

cgarvey wrote: »

Just checking if any Thorntons pay per lift customers have/intend on switching? My own maths (as per weight/lift history) is inline with WishUWereHere/shoehorn above. Mine is about 2.5-3x more expensive now, but still less expensive than AES.

Current service charge gone from €50 to €104 (108%). Current per-KG charge (overage) gone from €0.20 to €0.35 (75%)

Thats a good question Cgarvey. I live in Roseberry Hill i Newbridge, and afaik, we have 4 different companies doing business in the Estate: Thornton's, AES, Whelan, & Oxigen.

I have emailed them all ray whelan didn't even bother his ass replying after I messaged them twice. Oxigen came back to me week before last saying they would contact me this week when they have decided on their new rates...still waiting.

As for Thornton's & AES? Well, their charges are clear as daylight for all to see above.

I'm not sure in my case, I'm let with much of a choice CG, and I am betting €104 that Thornton's are aware of this

Buffman

So, one year on and with the pay by weight system less than two weeks away from being forcibly implemented on pay per lift customers, it looks like the goverment are in full 'ostrich' mode (head in the sand) on this issue.

I'm with Thorntons pay per lift and I just did my sums based on my last 12 months lifts, €139 on pay per lift versus €218 on pay per weight. Even with all my composting efforts over the last year it's still a possible 57% increase for me, mostly down to the massive rise in the service charge.

Joe Public

Buffman wrote: »

So, one year on and with the pay by weight system less than two weeks away from being forcibly implemented on pay per lift customers, it looks like the goverment are in full 'ostrich' mode (head in the sand) on this issue.

I'm with Thorntons pay per lift and I just did my sums based on my last 12 months lifts, €139 on pay per lift versus €218 on pay per weight. Even with all my composting efforts over the last year it's still a possible 57% increase for me, mostly down to the massive rise in the service charge.

Is this really going to happen? I haven't heard anything about it lately.

mullyboyee

I got a notification text a while back from Thorntons. Simply said my annual service charge of €50 is due July.

Surely they'd have to notify customers of any inevitable change to the terms of their current deal (Pay per lift in my case).

Buffman

Joe Public wrote: »

Is this really going to happen? I haven't heard anything about it lately.

According to Thorntons it is.

http://thorntons-recycling.ie/domestic/pay-by-weight/

Pay by Weight is coming on July 1st 2016 2017 and as a Thorntons Recycling customer you don’t have to worry about the changeover.

We currently weigh every lift from your household bins and know exactly how much each one weighs.
When the new rules begin we will simply be dropping our ‘per lift’ charge and instead applying a ‘per kg’ rate for each service................To encourage positive environmental behaviour, changes are coming into force on 1 July 2016 2017, that will see all householders charged on a Pay by Weight basis for each of their bins. That’s the law and it applies to everyone in Ireland.

mullyboyee wrote: »

Surely they'd have to notify customers of any inevitable change to the terms of their current deal (Pay per lift in my case).

They'll probably be covered by the notices they gave last year.

L1011

Risk of an election at any stage so I can see a last minute fudge. Again.

Joe Public

Bring Simon Coveney back to Environment

n97 mini

Are Greyhound operating in Celbridge? They are in Leixlip. 15.50 per month and all bins are emptied twice per month.

Buffman

n97 mini wrote: »

Are Greyhound operating in Celbridge? They are in Leixlip. 15.50 per month and all bins are emptied twice per month.

Yes, they started serving Celbridge a few months ago. Their site is a bit ambiguous about pay by weight being mandatory, they appear to imply that it will be mandatory from the end of July.

https://greyhound.ie/faq-making-the-choice-pay-by-weight/

Many customers were happy to transfer to pay by weight and they have the option to stay on this plan if they so wish whilst others who preferred their current charging plan now have the choice to remain on this plan until the end of July 2017.

Coopaloop

Not sure if this will help you but greyhound were calling door to door a while back, still are doing the rounds in celbridge to get new business, they were offering all 3 bins for 13euro a month (no other charges) for 12 month contract. Now I haven't heard great things about them and reviews I read online were not good so I rang Thorntons and told them what they offered and they matched it straight away, no questions asked, no messing about.
Told a few friends and same thing with them.
Worth a shot.