20/12/2006: Fingal County Council will be increasing their household waste charge from the 1st January 2007. A standard 240 litre yellow bin tag will increase from €7.50 to €8 and the smaller 140 litre red tag will increase from €3.75 to €4.  

“Based on current presentation rates the average households annual waste bill will be €185 which is still one of the lowest in the Country. This covers approximately two thirds of the costs of providing a waste management service to all householders in the County, with the remaining one third funded by Fingal County Council. A monthly green bin service is also provided to all residents, which while it is free to the householder, costs Fingal €70 per household per year”. says Gilbert Power, Director of Services for Environment at Fingal County Council.

Fingal County Council is acknowledged as one of the fastest growing local authorities in the country and in response to demands from its residents the Council over the last number of years has substantially increased the recycling options available. Fingal residents recycled an impressive 23,000 tonnes in 2006, which is a 120% improvement in household recycling rates since 2003. With the opening of the Estuary Recycling Centre in Swords and the availability of green bins to all households in Fingal this figure is only set to increase in 2007. The brown bin pilot scheme will service a total of 17,000 households when completed in early 2007.

Gilbert Power concluded, “We provide a fair and good value service to the householder while continuing to expand our recycling facilities.  In addition, 9,000 households continue to benefit from our waiver scheme.  We feel that we are working with our citizens, to provide a waste management service that is straightforward, fair and encourages us all to protect our environment.  Our residents have shown an excellent example to date and we encourage them to continue to show others how it’s done.”