greenstar today?

eleMental

random question - i left my rubbish out this morning in a greenstar purple bag - it was out first thing. came home today and its still there. i checked the schedule and its definately on thursdays still. i also thought they did rubbish every week and recycling every other week. did i get something wrong?? thanks in advance!!

fat-tony

General rubbish collected every two weeks.
Recycling and composting bin every two weeks.
For those of you on a band system I just discovered today that the composting bin is considered as a lift - same as general rubbish. It was introduced in the area around September and was initially a free service.

artvandelay48

fat-tony wrote: »

General rubbish collected every two weeks.
Recycling and composting bin every two weeks.
For those of you on a band system I just discovered today that the composting bin is considered as a lift - same as general rubbish. It was introduced in the area around September and was initially a free service.

According to Greenstar's website, it depends on how you pay:

"At this time, our Compost collection service will be included in the current BillPay
price rate. However, a charge will apply on our Pay-by-Use and Pay-by-Weight services. "

Wayne_M

Yesterday was recycling. If the purple bags are on the same cycle as purple bins, then it's next Thursday.

fat-tony

artvandelay48 wrote: »

According to Greenstar's website, it depends on how you pay:

"At this time, our Compost collection service will be included in the current BillPay
price rate. However, a charge will apply on our Pay-by-Use and Pay-by-Weight services. "

Yes - a nice vague level of info. I spent 30 mins on the phone yesterday to ask why my bill for 2015 had gone up €36 because they had moved me to the next higher band. I was told it was because they were adding the compost bin lifts to the general waste lifts. I have nothing in writing from Greenstar about this but am expecting a letter. Seems a pity that they are lumping both bin types into the same band for Wicklow, where pay-by-weight doesn't seem to be in operation for domestic customers. I know that the monthly payment scheme locally seems to differentiate between brown bins (€4.99 per lift) and general refuse (€8 per lift for 140l), but those on billpay who pay the year in advance are stuck on the banding system. I wrote a long email to Greenstar last night and am awaiting a reply. I've always found the service totally reliable, just a pity they are not communicating well on the new charges.

Jimjay

We called greenstar to complain about bill. They had our 2015 estimate as 35 lifts. Asked them how this could be as they only come once a fortnight!? They got confused then said that band no longer exists, then they said oh it includes compost bin. When we told them we didnt have a compost bin she aaid she would call back in 10 mins. Needless to say we never heard from them again. Oh well, when they ring to find out why we havnt paid the bill we will try again.

fat-tony

I think this is the kernel of the problem - the bands don't fit with the introduction of the compost bin. I have been in band 2, which is 14 to 27 lifts, for the past number of years. I just put out the waste bin every two weeks on average and put my vegetable food waste into my home composter. When they introduced the brown bin collection Greenstar changed the collection frequency of general waste so there is a max of 26/27 lifts per year, so everyone would be in band 2. However, if you have a brown bin they stick you in band 3 now, which is €36 dearer. This allows you only 40 lifts maximum in total, so if you don't monitor your calendar carefully you could end up putting out the compost bin every two weeks and being charged for a total of 52 lifts at the end of the year. This is band 4 and is another €39 dearer - a total of €338.84 for the year! My current bill is €263.84, so quite a bit more expensive. I'm awaiting Greenstar's response and will report back.