Compromise on bin charges for Dublin

Wheelie bins will replace plastic refuse bags outside most Dublin households from the autumn, after Dublin Corporation last night approved a plan for their introduction.

Members voted 22 to 18 in favour of a proposal to begin distributing the bins in October for what corporation officials said would be a once-off charge, yet to be decided.

Dublin Corporation's full waste plan envisages householders paying up to £150 a year for a management and recycling service involving three separate wheelie bins per home.

This remains on hold for the moment, pending a pilot scheme starting this month in the south central area of the city. But a spokesman said last night the plan - including the annual fees - remained "very much alive".

Earlier, proposing the scheme to councillors, city manager Mr John Fitzgerald said its funding would be based on household-user charges. The new service was essential and it would be "an abysmal failure of local Government" if the corporation did not "get on with it".

The package would revolutionise waste management within a short space of time, he added, but this could only be done at considerable cost as was demonstrated by the demise of the Kerbside collection and recycling project. The corporation had to apply the principle of "polluter pays" but the user charges, which would become payable from 2001 onwards, would not apply to people on low incomes.

Following a proposal by Cllr Ruairi McGinley (FG) that the plan should be introduced in phases, the compromise motion was narrowly approved.

The decision means an estimated 130,000 wheelie bins will be distributed between October and April of next year. A public information campaign is planned and households will be consulted on their individual needs. The overall plan allows for an alternative to the bins, in which homes unsuited to their use can opt for the existing bag collection, with a tagging system of £1 per bag.

The wheelie bins come in two sizes: 24O litres and 140 litres. In the corporation plan, the annual charges envisaged for these are £150 and £120, respectively. Tax relief would effectively reduce the payments to £117 and £93.60.