International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

3.6 Recommendations
What is often described as ‘competition for the market’ has the potential to address
several of the issues that appear to be problematic in the waste collection market,
and which result from competition in the market. The most fundamental change is to
place the responsibility for household collection firmly in the hands of local
authorities, with the authorities being responsible for tendering the service out to
private operators should they wish to do so. This has the potential to:
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• Enable collectors to benefit from economies of density, so reducing the cost of
service delivery to the users;
• As a result, increase the take-up of services across a given geographical area;
• Enable the quality and scope of the collection service to be specified through
the tendering mechanism;
• Squeeze out monopoly rents where service operators are operating as a local
monopoly; and
• Enable a stronger link to be made between the collection and treatment of
waste, improving the prospects for development of the desired infrastructure.
In short, it should allow for similar or greater environmental quality to be attained at
lower cost (or alternatively, greater environmental benefits will be generated at the
same cost). Some key questions still remain, however.
3.6.1 Should Local Authorities be Able to Provide the Household Collection
Service?
The above discussion has presented two main options:
1. Competition in the market, where no one body has ‘control’ over household
waste, and private and public operators may compete for custom on a day-today
basis; and
2. Competition for the market, where a body which has control for household
waste – the local authority - tenders out that service.
The second approach presumes that the body with control over household waste
does, indeed, tender the service out. In reality, a third option exists in which the
density of logistics is ensured, and the coherence of service provision is made more
likely, but where the local authority itself operates the waste collection service.
In Ireland, it seems unlikely that many local authorities would wish to re-enter a
market they have already vacated. In many authorities, therefore, it might be
expected that the natural approach would be to tender the service out to a private
operator.
In some local authority areas, however, the authorities retain a strong presence as
the direct provider of services. In this context, local authorities could not be forced to
tender the service out to private contractors (for legal reasons). They could, indeed,
choose to operate the service themselves. However, they should be strongly
encouraged to market-test their service in order, periodically, to demonstrate that
their in-house offering represents value for money to residents.
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes