Saving money on Rubbish
Bin charges - What costs your Rubbish?
You can be working out your own specific answer to the above question in your own time. In the meantime, I can tell you how much our local contractor charges. Here are the charges:
Standing Charge per month: €12 x 12 months = €144 a year before you dispose of a matchbox.
By weight charge for regular rubbish is: 21cent per Kg average is about 25Kg x 21c = €5.25 per bin.
By weight for Recycling Bin is: 11.10c per Kg average would be about 10Kg x 11.10cent = €1.11 per bin.
If you are a careful user, you might get away with 1x bin every 2 weeks or 26 lifts a year.
€6.36 x 26 = €165.
Standing charge €144 + Weight charges €165 = TOTAL €309 per year.
What can I save, and How can I save on Bin Charges?
Even before you consider ending your contract with the waste company, you can save a bit by of course:
(1) Careful Recycling. There are recycling bins at many garages, supermarkets etc. It takes a bit of work by you can usually get rid of all you tins, glass, old clothing fairly painlessly.
(2) Composting. If you have any sort of garden, you might consider getting one of those neat compost bins and recycle your vegetable kitchen was, garden clipping etc.
(3)No totally kosher, but you could flush some of the small cooked food waste down the toilet.
(4) During the winter you could burn some paper and peelings in a stove or fire.
(5) You could unpack certain goods before leaving the supermarket and dispose of Cereal Boxes and other outer wrappings before you leave the shop. This might have two possible benefits; (a) If enough people did it, the supermarkets would get wise and stop using unnecessary outer boxes and wrappers, and (b) It will reduce your weight in a recycling bins.
In our house we have become super waste conscious over the years. When the Bin charges were introduced it further sharpened our efforts at waste management. But when the government sold us out by letting private contractor take over, it stared a whole new train of thought.
We had learned how to reduce our rubbish to a point where we would only fill a wheely bin about once in every 6 to 7 weeks. My guess is that other people were wiseing up and adopting similar economy methods because then the rubbish companies started upping the service charge.
The contractors at first were moderate enough with their costs. But a year of so into it, our local contractor added 100% to their monthly standing service charge from €6 per month to €12. It took me a while before I had a delayed "knee-jerk" reaction and copped myself on. Even then it took me another month or two before I summed up the courage to cancel my contract with the garbage disposal company.
We checked out various garbage receiving depots, their costs, their rules, and the distance we would have to travel. Most County Councils have several such depots and most probably there is one within a 15 minute drive from you.
Our one charges €4.50 for a large black bag of general rubbish. We get about 5 - 7 weeks from one of these bags. There is also a €2.50 prepaid bag for plastic bottles and that also does us for 5 to 7 weeks. Cans, tins, bottles and jars, cardboard, and old electrical goods are all free.
We now make only about 8 trips a year to the County Council Garbage Depot. Each trip we pay for one black bag of rubbish and one prepaid plastic recycling bag. That adds up to €56 in a year. If we were still with the bin company we would be paying at least €195 so we save €139 per year. The saving could be significantly greater for more frequent users.
(1) Careful Recycling. There are recycling bins at many garages, supermarkets etc. It takes a bit of work by you can usually get rid of all you tins, glass, old clothing fairly painlessly.
(2) Composting. If you have any sort of garden, you might consider getting one of those neat compost bins and recycle your vegetable kitchen was, garden clipping etc.
(3)No totally kosher, but you could flush some of the small cooked food waste down the toilet.
(4) During the winter you could burn some paper and peelings in a stove or fire.
(5) You could unpack certain goods before leaving the supermarket and dispose of Cereal Boxes and other outer wrappings before you leave the shop. This might have two possible benefits; (a) If enough people did it, the supermarkets would get wise and stop using unnecessary outer boxes and wrappers, and (b) It will reduce your weight in a recycling bins.
An Alternative to paying a Waste Contractor €200 to €400 a Year!
In our house we have become super waste conscious over the years. When the Bin charges were introduced it further sharpened our efforts at waste management. But when the government sold us out by letting private contractor take over, it stared a whole new train of thought.
We had learned how to reduce our rubbish to a point where we would only fill a wheely bin about once in every 6 to 7 weeks. My guess is that other people were wiseing up and adopting similar economy methods because then the rubbish companies started upping the service charge.
The contractors at first were moderate enough with their costs. But a year of so into it, our local contractor added 100% to their monthly standing service charge from €6 per month to €12. It took me a while before I had a delayed "knee-jerk" reaction and copped myself on. Even then it took me another month or two before I summed up the courage to cancel my contract with the garbage disposal company.
We checked out various garbage receiving depots, their costs, their rules, and the distance we would have to travel. Most County Councils have several such depots and most probably there is one within a 15 minute drive from you.
Our one charges €4.50 for a large black bag of general rubbish. We get about 5 - 7 weeks from one of these bags. There is also a €2.50 prepaid bag for plastic bottles and that also does us for 5 to 7 weeks. Cans, tins, bottles and jars, cardboard, and old electrical goods are all free.
We now make only about 8 trips a year to the County Council Garbage Depot. Each trip we pay for one black bag of rubbish and one prepaid plastic recycling bag. That adds up to €56 in a year. If we were still with the bin company we would be paying at least €195 so we save €139 per year. The saving could be significantly greater for more frequent users.
more saving ideas to follow ....
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