‘Panda household surcharge should be binned’ says councillor

Plans by Panda waste collection company to impose a surcharge on household bin collection have been blasted by a local councillor.

The company claims the €1 surcharge is in response to increasing fuel costs, however Dublin City Cllr. Daithí Doolan (Sinn Féin) accused the company of ‘gauging’.

“This surcharge is totally arbitrary and totally unacceptable,” he said.

“Householders are being forced to pay more for fuel, gas and now are being asked to pay a surcharge to have waste collected.

“This amounts to gauging.

“There was no similar price decrease when fuel was cheaper in recent years.

“Dublin is the wild west of Europe when it comes to domestic waste collection.

“There is no control over the industry and no consequences for the private companies failing to provide an agreed service for householders.

“Only 68% of households have food waste collected despite a legal requirement to provide all households with brown collection service.

“Meanwhile only 18% of households have no service at all. Across Europe the waste collection services have 100% coverage.

“This latest surcharge needs to be rejected, while the longterm solution is for Dublin City Council to take back control of the bin collection service.

“Only then will we really have a 21st century waste management service for Dublin.”