Householders in parts of Cork will be charged for the amount of waste they produce rather than the current flat fee, following the introduction of computerised "wheely bins" later this year.
Cork County Council this week ordered 12,000 of the new wheeled bins and plans to introduce a new computerised waste weighing system in north Cork.
The system will require the installation of computer software, billing systems and sophisticated weighing systems on waste collection lorries in Cork.
Initially the "pay-by-weight" system will affect areas in north Cork, Mallow and Fermoy but the council has plans to extend the system, which is based on the "polluter pays" philosophy.
Mr Jim Maloney, senior engineer with Cork County Council, said the decision stemmed from the polluter pays policy that had been mandated at EU level.
The system that will be introduced by Cork County Council will rely on a read/write microchip that will be embedded on each person's wheeled bin. This microchip will store the identity of the householder and will be used by the waste collection company to prove to people how much waste they are producing.
Each time a person's waste is collected the waste truck will weigh the rubbish and use its computer system to copy on to the chip the exact weight.
It will store the information on its own system and send this back to the council, which will bill the householder. If a complaint is made by the householder, the company can then check the weight data on the embedded chip on the bin for confirmation.
A tender published yesterday by Cork County Council shows each wheeled bin will range in size from 140 to 1,000 litres.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said making people pay for the waste they produce was the favoured option of the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen. Embedding microchips in bins was just one way of doing this, he added.