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Greyhound customers will have to opt out Mark Stedman/RollingNews.ie

Greyhound customers will be hit with pay-by-weight charge unless they opt out

A year-long industry-wide price freeze was announced last week.

BIN COMPANY GREYHOUND has confirmed that its customers will be required to opt out of the slated pay-by-weight bin charges.

Last week Minister for Housing Simon Coveney put paid to potential spikes in costs for customers by announcing a year-long freeze price freeze.

Along with the major players in the industry, Dublin-based Greyhound Waste signed up to the agreement – but have now said customers will be transferred automatically should they not specify otherwise.

This change is not due to happen until the end of July, and customers will have to contact the bin company before then by post, email or telephone.

greyhound waste The letter sent out by Greyhound Waste to its customers

In a statement to TheJournal.ie this evening, the company has said that the decision comes following feedback from its customers, and that it wanted to provide a choice.

Contracts for the refuse service will run for one year beginning on 1 August.

At the moment the agreement for waste companies to stick to a one-year deal is not binding, but the product of a good faith agreement between the government and the industry.

Should prices begin to increase, Minister Coveney said last week he would be willing to introduce legislation to cap the charges.

Bin charges: Everything you need to know about the deal on pay-by-weight and what it means for you

Also: Coveney set to freeze bin charges for 12 months

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54 Comments
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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:16 PM

    Why are people hell bent on making things harder for others ? Ridiculous altogether. ..

    224
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    Mute Eddie Byrne
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:21 PM

    Because of weak governance and regulation and a government with no whatsits.

    190
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    Mute jenni
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:46 PM

    suzie they might just have got away with their little sham if joe duffy hadn’t rowed in. seems like he had a good holiday, and a rest, he was on fire today.

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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Jun 28th 2016, 9:18 PM

    Jenni I’m glad at least it was highlighted because a lot of people would be caught out by it ..

    76
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    Mute ray.farrelly
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:14 PM

    Bring the corpo back.

    182
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    Mute Paul Mc
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:35 PM

    Dirty tramps.Im not talking about greyhound I’m talking about the government it’s always smoke and mirrors with this current shower of incompetents.

    99
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    Mute Paddy Ryan
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:37 PM

    Not sure about that… No doubt the unions would be demanding a €32k starting salary for a start. A properly regulated private sector is the way to go however when is anything in this country every properly regulated ? From granting licences to allowing competition to introducing half assed laws ….

    27
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    Mute John S
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:57 PM

    And Paddy, bins will be picked up from 10am to 3pm with 3 tea breaks, and woe betide anyone asking them to work Bank Holiday Mondays…..the union will have something to say about that…..

    27
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    Mute ray.farrelly
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    Jun 28th 2016, 9:02 PM

    John S. Would you like to see irish water privatised as well?

    37
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    Mute Old Gordon
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    Jun 28th 2016, 11:29 PM

    Please no. You’ll be paying twice the price and you’ll be constantly told how great a service they provide. We need some insulation from crony socialism.

    2
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    Mute Jonny Lennon
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:40 PM

    they havent been answering their phone all day and many older people havent a clue to use email, ive had to email for my old dear as she rang countless times and was just constanly on hold so they are not answering the phone on purpose, it’s absolutely disgraceful they are allowed get away with this, bring back the corpo indeed.

    172
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    Mute Rob Ben Jones
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    Jun 29th 2016, 12:48 AM

    Greyhound seem very shady indeed. Why not leave people on the same plan as before and change if you want. Methinks I know the answer already – Profit.

    72
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    Mute Ronan Sexton
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    Jun 29th 2016, 7:55 AM

    If they aren’t answering the phone, just simply switch provider and stop paying these thieves. Send them an email telling them their bins are out on the road if they want to retrieve them.

    44
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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jun 29th 2016, 10:54 AM

    Goes to show how much we would all “save” had it come in. This with increased energy costs are all very FG.

    12
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    Mute Ron Spaghettini
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    Jun 29th 2016, 11:57 AM

    Better still, email them and give them notice that you are cancelling their services and the bins are to be removed from your home / premises within 48 hours. After which they will be invoiced for storage of their bins at the rate of €200.00 per hour.

    If they “choose” not to remove them from your property in the allotted time, it will be deemed that they agree and accept such charges for storage of their bins on your property.

    23
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    Mute ballbreaker
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    Jun 29th 2016, 12:03 PM

    Glad to see someone pays attention to the cls talks

    1
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    Mute Gillian Kennedy
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:43 PM

    This is not a price freeze at all. We paid an “annual charge” to Greyhound upfront in January, which funnily enough we took to cover all of 2016. We’re now being asked for the same amount again, which surely is a breach of contract? That is separate to the pay per weight / pay per lift decision. I emailed Greyhound 10 days ago but have yet to receive a reply.

    80
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    Mute Jumperoo
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:21 PM

    Can anyone tell a culchie like me what the Greyhound fees are – monthly standing fee, and then charge per kilo too? Just curious to how it might compare to elsewhere. Can’t easily fund the details on the Greyhound site.

    78
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    Mute Ned Shaw
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:32 PM

    €3.25 per week service charge. 35 cent per kilo for general waste, 25 cent (I think) for organic waste and “free” for recycling (subsidised by the other 2 bins)

    45
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    Mute Lisa Bushell-Roche
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:33 PM

    Not sure about Greyhound but Thorntons pay by weight, we figure for an uplift of our 120lt bin would cost nearly 40 euro times that by 2 lifts per month. Then the compost bin approx 30 Euro per lift. You would have to get that lifted every second week because the food would rot and smell. I figure it would cost in and around 140 pm. Am currently paying just over 20 a month for general waste. Compost and recycling currently free.

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    Mute dave muller
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:38 PM

    I pay €15 per month and pay per lift . My current lift of bins cost €3.70. Black bin 13kg Brown bin 8.5kg and Recycle 10kg. If I paid by weight it would have cost me Black 13kg X.35c =4.55 Brown 8.5kg X .23c = 1.95. So my total would have been €6.50.
    I am staying with pay per lift

    24
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    Mute Jumperoo
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:39 PM

    @Ned – thanks. Our crowd in Wexford told us (before the whole thing was deferred) that the new charges would be €14 per month (broadly similar to your €3.25 per week) and then 25c per kg for waste. Recycling ‘free’, and we don’t get a brown bin out in the sticks.

    25
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    Mute Jumperoo
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:43 PM

    @lisa – €40 even at that Dublin rate of 35c per kg would be approx 115kg of waste in your bin. Are you doing up the house or something, and getting rid of concrete and rubble?

    19
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    Mute (((Jason)))
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:58 PM

    We get a brown bin in Enniscorthy. I use the bring centre for just about everything, waste bin rarely, if ever used. Was with Wastepal, til green star bought them. Bills went up almost immediately.

    17
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    Mute Trish Casey
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    Jun 28th 2016, 10:14 PM

    In Tralee we have been paying by weight for 15 months now.
    Service charge €12 a month X 12 = €144
    Waste- 21c
    Food – 16c
    Recycling-11c.
    Living on my own my bin charges have shot up from €75 a year to €240
    It’s the elderly and those living on their own who would normally only put their bins out every 6/8 weeks that are hardest hit.

    22
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    Mute jenni
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    Jun 28th 2016, 10:59 PM

    depends on where you live jumperoo

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    Mute Deirdre Maher
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    Jun 28th 2016, 11:25 PM

    Maybe she means per. I think which is two lifts .. Mine weigh in at about 60/70kg per lift ..

    3
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    Mute Lisa Bushell-Roche
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    Jun 29th 2016, 9:14 AM

    @ Jumperoo. That would be every two weeks. As a family of 6, we tend to fill our bin to the max. And not with rubble or concrete. Our waste bin is 120kg.

    1
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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Jun 29th 2016, 9:43 AM

    In cork city I pay €22.75 per month for 3 bins, Refuse, Recycle and glass. Although the refuse bin is only a small one (120 lts)

    1
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    Mute Jumperoo
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    Jun 29th 2016, 9:54 AM

    @lisa. I think you may be getting confused. Maybe you’ve got a 120 litre bin (a pretty standard size ‘small’ wheelie bin). It doesn’t automatically follow that filling it takes 120kg of material.

    4
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    Mute Lisa Bushell-Roche
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    Jun 29th 2016, 10:58 AM

    @ Jumperoo… Nope, its the larger of the two sizes. I’ve emailed Thorntons this morning to opt out. Just incase you needed to contact them and the response was

    Thorntons Recycling are part of the Waste Management Association of Ireland and our prices are not changing as per the ruling last week by the Government.

    So guess i am ok for the next 9 months.

    1
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    Mute Lisa Bushell-Roche
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    Jun 29th 2016, 10:59 AM

    @ Rob, that’s what i am paying a month at present and my bin is the larger of the two. Recycle and Compost bin currently free. Unfortunately don’t have a glass bin, so frequent trips to the bottle bank required.

    1
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    Mute Trevor Beale
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:26 PM

    If the option is there, change collectors. Only way to affect these thieves is in the pocket.

    43
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    Mute Mary Murphy
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:48 PM

    Minister Coveney must be away in the compost heap. Some job he’s doing. Clown

    42
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    Mute Fjordie
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:51 PM

    Crony capitalism and clueless government.

    40
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    Mute Shane Bradley
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    Jun 28th 2016, 9:14 PM

    When I moved in, Greyhound were responsible for the green bin collection & the Council for the other 2 bins… The council started collections immediately, while it took countless calls and almost 2 months for Greyhound to get their act together…I have no regard for them at all.
    However from the day & hour Panda took over the service has been faultless… If this was a fully functioning open market… Greyhound should have gone under but it’s not so they still can treat their customers with contempt…

    32
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    Mute Do the Bort man
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    Jun 28th 2016, 8:52 PM

    The pay by weight is actually cheaper, it’s just the bloody standing charge that makes it more expensive.

    30
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    Mute Jeanette McDonald
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    Jun 28th 2016, 9:45 PM

    Opting out could also cost. I heard the show today and those who got answers were told they could stay on current plan but there was a charge being levied!!! Move, people, this lot are a shower of gangsters.

    25
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    Mute Mick Mccomiskey
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    Jun 28th 2016, 9:01 PM

    I found the best way (If the recycling centre is not to faraway) is to take your recycling to the recycling centre once a month’ (it’s free)and your waste to your local garage (most have waste machines) and pay €7 to put two reasonable size bags in it once a month. So €7 in total a month can’t be bad. No more bins.

    23
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    Mute Trish Casey
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    Jun 28th 2016, 10:06 PM

    We have been paying by weight in Tralee for 15 months now. When Alan Kelly stated that he warned the waste companies that he would come down hard on any company seen to being taken advantage of people he obviously overlooked our waste company . I have seen my bin charges more than tripled and now we’ve been told he can carry on charging us these rip of prices even though the rest of the country have had their charges frozen. It is especially unfair to the elderly and those living in their own who would only put their bins out every 6/8weeks.

    16
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    Mute Ian Walsh
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    Jun 29th 2016, 12:35 AM

    Could the customers of this disgraceful company not come together and leave en masse to another company? That would hit the two yolks who run this sham where it hurts.

    13
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    Mute Rob Ben Jones
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    Jun 29th 2016, 12:53 AM

    Unfortunately thete is not much competition in this industry. I was furious with the increase Thorntons were proposing but there was only one other company to choose. What’s going to happen in 12 months.

    6
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    Mute Jean McGrath
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    Jun 28th 2016, 11:08 PM

    I got the email today and was advised that if I want to stay on my current plan I’d have to pay €34 in advance before the 1st August I also noticed they had the wrong account number on the email. Anyone else get this?

    11
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    Mute Jeanette McDonald
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    Jun 29th 2016, 8:59 AM

    Jean, that’s another different charge, I’ve heard between €60 and €69. Have you head back from them?

    1
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    Mute Bren MC
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    Jun 28th 2016, 11:30 PM

    If you aren’t contractually tied then you don’t have to take their nonsense.

    10
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    Mute Ronan Sexton
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    Jun 29th 2016, 7:59 AM

    Contract or not, you don’t have to tolerate any nonsense. Switch provider and ignore any letters from these gangsters, leave their bins out on the road and good riddance to them.

    10
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    Mute Lazlo Saint Pierre
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    Jun 29th 2016, 12:51 AM

    This sort of carry on does not surprise me from a disgusting company like Greyhound.

    9
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    Mute Irish Cottage Rental
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    Jun 29th 2016, 8:53 AM

    Ah yes the same Greyhound who were caught ripping off Irish Rail eg we the taxpayers.

    6
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    Mute Gerry Fitz
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    Jun 29th 2016, 1:54 AM

    Like a whole new series of the Sopranos.

    5
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    Mute Maria Hickey-Fagan
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    Jun 29th 2016, 8:10 AM

    I didn’t even get an email.

    4
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    Mute gus sheridan
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    Jun 28th 2016, 11:05 PM

    Rubbish!

    3
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    Mute t
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    Jun 29th 2016, 5:52 PM

    These companies that have opt out or be charged more are rogues and people should be protected from them.

    1
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    Mute jimmy bray
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    Jun 29th 2016, 2:33 PM

    Tony soprano is alive and well

    1
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    Mute John Ward
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    Jun 29th 2016, 8:06 AM

    Where there’s muck there’s brass!

    1
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