Greenstar in Wexford and new pay by weight bin charges

BarryD

Got a letter from Greenstar recently asking us to put a new sticker on our waste bin, so that a new 'pay by weight' scheme can be implemented on 1st July coming. Otherwise they say they will not collect the bin. However no details to date about what charges will apply!

This is due to government directive and leaving aside the pros and cons of this, my main query is that I have already paid Greenstar in full for a years service which will not expire till Feb 2017.

From what replies I get back, I gather they propose to now charge by weight and use my 'outstanding credit' against what I've paid them, which may mean that the agreement I made to pay them in full for a year last Jan will not last the full term.

This appears to me to be a breach of consumer rights and contract law and whatever else you're having. Has anyone else received these letters and have you investigated them? The 1st July is only 3 weeks or so away.

BarryD

As to the pros and cons of above, I'd be amazed if this new 'pay by weight' for waste does not result in even more fly tipping of rubbish. As it is, there's a minor plague of this already and far from 'the polluter pays' principle - the polluter actually pays nothing in these cases as they are very rarely if ever caught and fined.

In fact, it's worse than this - as socially minded citizens who pick up roadside rubbish and deposit in their own bins, will now be charged for the privilege of doing their civic duty

vicwatson

This whole thing is messed up big style by Government, surprise surprise !

BarryD

vicwatson wrote: »

This whole thing is messed up big style by Government, surprise surprise !

We'll see but I suspect there'll be trouble yet over this. Does anyone know the breakdown of people who already pay by weight and those that just pay weekly, monthly or annual charges regardless of weight?

Marhay70

Greenstar aren't the only ones, AES only issued 6 month contracts from January, no idea of what charges will be or how it's going to be verified.
Typical of the bullying of the FG/Lab government, particularly that arrogant pri*k Kelly and as for the polluter pays, that's all my ar*e. The polluters are big business but Seán Citizen picks uo the bill as usual, God knows what will face us if Kenny and his criminal accomplices in the EU manage to force TTIP through.
Remember this when D'Arcy and Kehoe come looking for your vote, which won't be too long methinks.

BarryD

Marhay70 wrote: »

Greenstar aren't the only ones, AES only issued 6 month contracts from January, no idea of what charges will be or how it's going to be verified.

That's interesting, AES were obviously anticipating change. But Greenstar who took over Wastepal were happy to take a year's payment.

Marhay70

BarryD wrote: »

That's interesting, AES were obviously anticipating change. But Greenstar who took over Wastepal were happy to take a year's payment.

Yes, they were aware and I'd say all the waste collection companies were. AES told us in December that pay by weight was coming in July.

Squiggle

I find Greenstar's communication dreadful. A few weeks to go and they cant get their act together. I contacted AES with a view to moving my business and they told me their charges were as follows:

I can advise you the charges for Pay by Weight is as follows, 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 = 15 cent per KG

· Glass Bin = 0 cent per KG

I'm sure Greenstar will have similar pricing.
Why is there a charge for the organic bin when it doesn't go to landfill? With Greenstar I'm paying €9 monthly standing charge and €4.50 per lift for the compost ( organic) bin ! Anyone know what weight would be in a 140l compost bin packed solid with food waste, 100kg I'm thinking !! Reckon my overall charges will rise considerably.

BarryD

Squiggle wrote: »

I find Greenstar's communication dreadful. A few weeks to go and they cant get their act together.

Agreed - I've written to the Consumers Assoc and the Minister for Environment in relation to this, but we'll see what comes out in the wash.

I reckon the waste companies are secretly delighted - a government backed initiative allowing them to increase their charges. Win, win for all except the paying customers and the ditches of rural Ireland.

Boots234

We are with Greenstar also and I have paid for a year's subscription which will end this coming August. We haven't received any communication regarding these changes coming in in July but will be expecting to hear something shortly. My gripe with these charges is that they took the compost bin collection off us earlier this year as there are less than 500 residents in our area so all of our food waste has to go into the general waste bin.

According to the citizens information website 'A pay-by-weight charging system will be implemented throughout the State from 1 July 2016. The Government has set a minimum mandatory fee per kilo for the different types of household waste:

11c for residual waste (usually black or grey bins)
6c for organic waste (usually brown bins)
Zero cent for recyclable materials (usually green bins)'

In this case we are being charged extra for our food waste as we don't have the organic waste collection option. Interestingly these minimum prices are much lower than what a previous poster has received from AES, I can imagine that all providers will have hugely overpriced weight charges

crabbypaddy

Greenstar must be hoping to not inform people so that they can't make an informed decision on changing providers. They promised a letter at the end of May, now its 'in the next few days'. God help anyone with nappies.

fifth

My account says my pay by weight charges will be €134 per month. This is surely an error. I live alone and have very little rubbish.

BarryD

Last reply I had from Greenstar was at beginning of the month and I quote "You will receive a further letter regarding pay by weight pricing in the next week or so as this is only just being finalised now. Whatever unused portion of the payment already made will be used as credit towards your first weight invoices"

Note the suitably vague phrase 'in the next week or so' - no communication since, so impossible to assess charges.

But regardless, we and many others must still be on some form of annual contract and I don't see how Greenstar or any other operator can break that, regardless of what the Government bring in. Surely they have to see out their existing contracts?

I wrote by the way also to the Dept of the Environment in relation to these contracts and what I got back was

'I wish to acknowledge receipt of your recent email in connection with new waste charges and annual contract. A further response will issue in due course.'

No response received to date. Maybe they're sorting it all out today but what a mess with obvious problems left to the very last minute. You'd wonder sometimes if we are at all capable of running basic services in this country?

Del.Monte

Presumably this means that for those of us that use bags the price will be jacked up - again.

Marhay70

Just got an email from AES outlining the new charging schedule and based on my bin weights over the last 6 months my costs will increase by about 40% and I only use an 80 litre bin.

Poochie05

Greenstar managed to send me a new sticker to put on my green bin last week, but still no info on the actual charges. :rolleyes:
When I log in to my account they have the monthly service charge of €8 and price per kilo as €0.00 for each bin. Happy Days!*

* Don't worry, I am not deluded, I am sure this is not the new pricing, they have just set up the area on the website, to be populated once they make up the prices.

FYI in case you haven't noticed, there is a whole forum on recycling and domestic waste disposal with discussions on this very topic http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1760

BarryD

sjb25 wrote: »

Got a letter from greenstar today

What exactly does 'we will apply a credit note to your account on a pro rata basis' mean?

It seems to suggest that they will take 'outstanding credit' from contracts that are still in force and apply them to some new system.

This is surely illegal - they sold an annual service to us & other customers back in January, it was paid in full and now it looks like they propose to change this half way through. That is fundamentally wrong - if Greenstar agreed a set of fees with say Wexford County Council for a years access to landfill sites - they'd be in the courts if Wexford CoCo changed the terms after a few months.

Suspect though that whole thing will be deferred and existing contracts will expire.

sjb25

BarryD wrote: »

What exactly does 'we will apply a credit note to your account on a pro rata basis' mean?

It seems to suggest that they will take 'outstanding credit' from contracts that are still in force and apply them to some new system..

That's what I take from it aswell load of balls is what all this seems to be

Poochie05

The cheek of them in that letter saying in response to 'will I pay more?'
You are in charge of your costs, the more you recycle the less you pay!

Even if I never put out a bin the standing charge is going up so I will be paying more, nothing I can control about that! Talk about patronising

BarryD

According to Conor Pope? on RTE this afternoon, people with annual contracts to collect waste can demand repayment of portion remaining from 1st July and go to another provider... He argues that the waste companies are being compelled by the government to break these contracts. Hmm.... sounds like one for the lawyers, if you could be bothered. Might be simpler to just let whatever 'credit' is there to be used up and then punish the company by moving your business.

Neither am I going to be in a hurry to pick up heavy rubbish off the roads and put in my bin anymore. The government/ local authority can pay for that.

bruschi

Poochie05 wrote: »

The cheek of them in that letter saying in response to 'will I pay more?'
You are in charge of your costs, the more you recycle the less you pay!

Even if I never put out a bin the standing charge is going up so I will be paying more, nothing I can control about that! Talk about patronising

I had thought the same, but working it out on average, it comes in nearly the same. There is now no charge for the recycling bin, previously for me it was €3.20, so even adding in for that going once a month, it comes closer to the rise in the standing charge. They are effectively adding in 2 lifts for recycling per month onto the current standing charge. The average cost of the refuse is not changing a whole lot, but it does mean I can put it out even when not full as I dont have to make the most of the one off set payment regardless of how full it is.

I want to be more outraged over it all, but working it out based on previous weights recorded on their website, the net effect was less than €4 over a year.

However, thats not to say I am happy with the current amount being charged. I still think its a massive cost

sjb25

Had to delete my last picture of the letter had my account info on it.... Ooops anyway all sorted now for anybody interested here's a better edited one

Dilbert75

Got my letter last night - a week before it comes in. My biggest problem with it is that it in no way clarifies what our normal waste disposal would have cost. What I want to know is what weight the last two months would have cost me on the new pricing.

Edit: If you read the letter carefully, you have a link to a username and pin so you can log in and see your last month's data. Going by my May usage, the cost is increasing to me by over 30%.

Boots234

There is a message on the Greenstar website saying 'Details of how the recent changes to Pay By Weight regulations (the 12 month price freeze) will impact YOU will be updated here in the coming days'. What exactly do they mean by this? I thought that the prices would be exact same as last year's for a year's subscription, or what am I misunderstanding?

BarryD

If above sticks, I suspect they'll honour all standing contracts until they expire. Then offer some new arrangement when renewals come up.

TAPlank

Message received from Greenstar @ 4.00pm, 19-07-16

Please be advised that the Government have suspended the introduction of pay by weight charges indefinitely as and from 30/06/16. We have no indication if/when they will ever be introduced. Please note your charges, payment frequency and service will remain the same as before the pay by weight charges were advised.

Cantona's Collars

No matter what the charges are,the dumping around the county seems to be getting worse.I drove around parts of Cork and barely any litter on back roads,never mind the bags and boxes of rubbish we see here.I turned off at Templescoby to bypass the town on the way home and within 200 yards I was greeted with bags of rubbish all along the roadside.:mad:
I would swear there are people around if given free bins wouldn't use them and still dump their rubbish along the roadside.

BarryD

zerks wrote: »

No matter what the charges are,the dumping around the county seems to be getting worse.

Lack of enforcement and lack of clean up services I think. Wicklow have a good service in the PURE project http://www.pureproject.ie/ If people report illegal dumping, they'll go around and clean up on the basis that dumping just attracts more dumping. Does Wexford have a service like this and if not, why not??

Cantona's Collars

BarryD wrote: »

Lack of enforcement and lack of clean up services I think. Wicklow have a good service in the PURE project http://www.pureproject.ie/ If people report illegal dumping, they'll go around and clean up on the basis that dumping just attracts more dumping. Does Wexford have a service like this and if not, why not??

Wexford has a number to ring,in fairness they do go and clean up but are fighting a losing battle,I meet vans that are full by 9am of rubbish that has been picked up and full again within another hour or so,rinse and repeat.

BarryD

Is this the number? Anti litter Hotline (Freephone) 1800 386 733 open during office hours.