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The Competition Authority is investigating complaints about
the new dominance of private waste firms in Dublin following
the transfer of the city council’s household bin collection
service to Greyhound.
It said it has received a number of complaints in recent
days from former council customers who have not been able
to obtain a bin-collection service from any waste firm other
than Greyhound.
A spokeswoman for the Competition
Authority said it was investigating whether a provision
had been included in the contract between the council and
Greyhound which in some way was blocking the entry of competitors,
or if Greyhound had reached agreement with its rivals that
they would not compete at present.
“It is not permissible to engage in market-sharing or to
divide up the city in some way. At the moment, we are information
gathering to establish exactly what has happened,” the spokesman
said.
Dublin City Council transferred its household bins service
to Greyhound following a sale agreed last December.
Assistant city manager Séamus Lyons said there had been problems
with the handover and the council had received “numerous”
complaints from householders this week that their bins were
not collected. However, when these complaints were passed
to Greyhound they were swiftly rectified.
Former council customers are under no obligation to sign
up to Greyhound, but customers who tried to change said they
have not been able to find another provider to take their
bins despite 11 companies currently holding domestic waste-collection
permits to operate in the city council area.
Fine Gael councillor Mary O’Shea, who represents the central
area of the city, said a number of constituents had been told
by other firms they were not prepared to operate in what was
Greyhound’s area.
“Several constituents have said other waste providers told
them the city belongs to Greyhound, or it was Greyhound’s
‘territory’. It makes a nonsense of the idea that competition
in the private sector would bring prices down.”
A spokesman for Greyhound said customers were free to change
to another provider at any time, but would not be refunded
their annual standing charge.
The company has reversed a decision requiring the standing
charge of €100, or €80 for those with a small bin, to be paid
in full within 30 days of January 16th and will now allow
payment in two equal instalments - the first by February 15th
and remainder by July 1st.
The spokesman said Greyhound had yet to decide if a customer
cancelling the service before July 1st would be required to
pay the second instalment.
Dublin City Council insisted there was no provision in the
contract that would preclude competition.
Panda - which operates waste collection in Fingal and Dún
Laoghaire-Rathdown and is one of the few private firms to
have already won business from the council, with about 2,000
existing city-based customers - said it was not taking on
any new customers at present.
Greenstar, which also collects bins in Fingal and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown,
said it was not operating in the city at the moment but was
“actively considering” entry into the market.
“It’s a challenging market. The council was running the service
at a loss and Greyhound have agreed to maintain those prices
for six months, but we won’t necessarily wait until July before
we make a move,” said Jerry Dempsey of Greenstar.
Oxigen, which does not operate a domestic refuse collection
service in the Dublin area, said it would offer a service
to former council customers. It is offering three options
- €20 a month for a fortnightly black and green bin collection,
an annual charge of €60 plus €8.85 per collection or €14 per
collection.
Source - The Irish Times
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