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

Local authorities have no obvious mechanism – other than charges to households,
and on landfilled waste - through which to recover costs of other services which
private sector operators do not need to offer, especially in respect of the more ‘public
good’ elements of the waste management service (such as street cleaning, controlling
illegal dumping, etc.). It is not clear that receipts from the Environmental Fund would
cover all these costs, so that authorities may be competing in the waste collection
market from a position where they are seeking to recover costs, through their
charges, which their competitors do not have to bear.
Indeed, we may now be entering a period where, instead of landfill gate fees
supporting the revenues required to operate waste services, the pendulum is
swinging the other way, and local authorities would be required to raise revenues over
and above the cost of provision of collection and treatment services in order to run
other aspects of the waste management service, as well as to support clean-up of old
landfills. 100 In such a situation, private sector operators would be able to operate
profitably in the collection market even with lower economies of density in collection.
The perception of conflict clearly persists, and whilst instances of abuse of power
might be considered, by many, to be largely anecdotal, such abuses could not be
completely ruled out. The local authority clearly retains advantages by not being
required to obtain permits or charge VAT.
It is worth noting, in passing, that giving local authorities responsibility for the
household waste collection service, and allowing them to tender out the service,
would effectively make any perceived inequality, to the extent it exists, less relevant
for the simple reason that there would be one provider of the household collection
service in a given area.
4.2 Moving Forward
The aims of local authorities and the central government with respect to waste
management are as follows:
67
� Prevention;
� Reduction;
� Recycling;
� Sustainable disposal of other waste;
� Integrated waste management approach; and
� A more effective and equitable system of waste charging. 101
100 See, for example, CCMA (2007) The Local Authority Perspective on the Realities of Irish Waste
Management, a Position Paper Presented by the City and County Managers’ Association, 23 rd April
2007.
101 EPA (1998) A Policy Statement: Waste Management – Changing Our Ways available at:
http://www.epa.ie/downloads/pubs/waste/plans/epa_changing_our_ways_1998.pdf
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes