Dublin South West Sinn Féin TD, Seán Crowe, has described reports that Environment Minister Alan Kelly proposes to charge for recyclable waste as a direct attack on families and said it is another reason to vote his government out of office.

Crowe said that the Minister’s farfetched claims that this will work out cheaper for households will fool no one and that his new proposal will give Recycling companies a ‘free hand,’ allowing them to effectively charge anything they like for any future waste collection

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“The news of another tax from this government will bring a collective groan right across the country. Not satisfied with lumbering people with the hated water charges and regressive taxes like the property charge, Minister Alan Kelly is now trying in the dying days of his administration, to fast track another financial burden on hard pressed families. His farfetched claims that this will work out cheaper for households will fool no one.

“Many of us at Council level and in Leinster House argued that the privatisation of waste collection would not only lead to a loss of jobs and a poorer service, but it would also lead inevitably to an
increase in service charges. We know to our cost that waste charges have increased dramatically, and now we are being told that individuals and families will be forced to pay more.

“Irish household’s come out positively when it comes recycling so it is absolute madness to stunt that progress by introducing measures that penalise, rather than reward, those who go out of their way to recycle.

“Instead of encouraging and promoting, this proposal will discourage more and more people away from recycling reusable items.

“The disincentive will also lead to an increase in illegal burning and dumping with its negative impact on the physical and visual environment.

“The Minister could have targeted those producers and companies who favour packaging materials that currently cannot be recycled, but opted once again to hit the vulnerable householder.

“The only real winners from Minister Alan Kelly’s proposal will be the private individuals who own and run the various recycling firms that have sprung up since the service was removed from County Councils. It certainly will not be the environment and certainly will not be the tens of thousands of individuals and families who will now be forced to pay another bill on weekly or fortnightly basis.”

ENDS