{"id":290271,"date":"2026-02-10T09:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/290271\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T09:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:38:21","slug":"panda-bin-charges-up-6-with-other-waste-companies-expected-to-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/290271\/","title":{"rendered":"Panda bin charges up 6% with other waste companies expected to follow"},"content":{"rendered":"

An average 6% increase in bin charges for Panda Recycling customers means other companies are likely to announce similar rises, a consumer affairs expert has warned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The increase, which will impact a significant number of households in the Greater Dublin area, is noticeably above the general rate of inflation in the economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s an average [increase] of 6%, but they are up to 9%,\u201d Irish Independent Personal Finance Editor told Newstalk Breakfast<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the half yearly service charge is going from \u20ac70 to \u20ac75 – that’s \u20ac150 a year before you put a bin out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the charge for a general waste bin, if you\u2019re with Panda, is going from \u20ac13.50 to \u20ac14.75 – now that’s 9.2%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider inflation at less than 3%, that’s more than three times the inflation rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re not increasing the charge for putting out a compost bin this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" Card and glass bottles in recycling bins ready for collection. Picture by: Steve Hawkins Photography \/ Alamy.<\/p>\n

While Panda is only one waste collection company, Mr Weston added that he expects bin charges for other companies will also soon go up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies just decide the pricing structure themselves and what we tend to get is a flurry of increases across all of them at the start of every year,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been on to the other ones, but they don’t tend to reply to the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe waste companies are rather disdainful of the media, I’m afraid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the market is not suiting consumers at all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" Recycling bins. Picture by: Alamy.com.<\/p>\n

Mr Weston continued that waste collection<\/a> services are long overdue a \u201cradical overhaul\u201d and public servants are considering alternatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may go from the system you have at the moment, where companies compete for your business on a house-by-house basis, to one where they get a franchise, maybe just operate in one geographical area,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe competition authority as well, the CCPC, is very critical of how the industry is working.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re saying there’s a big danger of an unhealthy concentration of power and there’s a need for regulators.\u201d<\/p>\n

In defence of the industry, Mr Weston said their job is not easy and is complicated by their customers\u2019 frequent non-compliance with the basic rules of recycling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme two years ago has also hit profits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big problem they have as well is that people won’t put the right stuff into the right bin,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd one nappy in the paper recycling bin can contaminate a whole truckload.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it’s not satisfactory that we keep seeing price rises.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to Newstalk, Panda said it had “structured its charges to incentivise the greater use of composting and recycling bins”.<\/p>\n

“Panda has increased its charges by an average of 6% for customers in the Fingal area,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“The change in pricing reflects increases in a range of costs that have affected the business over the past 12 months; these include increased labour costs due to the higher minimum wage and the cost of auto-enrolment pensions.<\/p>\n

“The industry is also facing increased recycling and waste disposal charges, which have also contributed to total costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main image: Bins on a path in Dublin. Picture by: NCBI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An average 6% increase in bin charges for Panda Recycling customers means other companies are likely to announce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-290271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}