Sir, – Your headline "Government warns waste firms it will impose regulations if prices keep rising" (June 17th) is somewhat worrying.
If I were the chief executive of a waste firm, I would ignore the warning, raise prices and then wait for the Government to fix prices at the higher rate.
It would be preferable for the Government to lead on this issue, rather than follow, and to act now, rather than later. – Yours, etc,
GARRY BURY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – New politics, new bin charges. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN AHERN,
Clonsilla,
Dublin 15.
Sir, – I have just received the new charges from my bin collector and calculated I will be paying €3 more a year for my standing charge, up from a current €360 to €363, but then I will also have to pay by weight for filling them.
I then totalled the weight from my last 12 bills and calculated I will pay a further extra €283 a year to fill these bins.
This is a total increase of €286 a year from €360 to €646, a huge 80 per cent increase. This will be a larger annual charge than my water bill.
I would urge your readers to check their bills for the last year and do this simple calculation. They may be shocked. I find it hard to believe 87 per cent of people will pay less per year, as has been suggested.
We are a household of four adults who recycle diligently. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN BATHE,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
Sir, – There is a fundamental difference between selling essential services and selling services we can take or leave. Competition does not generate the same downward pressure on price when the customer cannot do without the service. Waste collection firms do not have to be in a cartel to increase prices together. They just have to recognise that they have us over a wheelie barrel. – Yours, etc,
COLIN WALSH,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – Does this Government think that all the people of the nation are fools?
Is it so out of touch with the electorate that it is blissfully unaware of the hardship being created unnecessarily? – Yours, etc,
AINE HOLT,
Baile Átha Cliath 15.
Sir, – I have been suffering from water-volume angst. My analyst told me that it is a common phobia and the weight would be lifted once the charges are dropped. And true enough, my water angst has lifted. But now I am suffering from rubbish angst and the weight is too much for me. – Yours, etc,
FRANK KAVANAGH,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – The increasing bin charges levied on consumers need a response. Instead of meekly accepting the increases and blaming profiteering and the EU, we must start by reducing the waste we are forced to carry to facilitate shops and food producers.
I am constantly amazed at the level of packaging lumbered on us when we buy products. So instead of increasing your recycling at home, start earlier at the point of purchase, and separate your goods from the packaging in the shop just after you pay for them but before you pack them in your recyclable bag. This is entirely legal as shops are required to take back the packaging from customers.
If more of us did this, I’m sure packaging volumes would reduce overnight. – Yours, etc,
TOM FINN,
Ballinasloe,
Co Galway.