One of the major waste management companies in Ireland has said that it will start charging customers for collecting their recycling.
This is because the company said it is facing additional cost for recycling as a result of the China ban on imports of plastics.
According to TheJournal.ie, Panda will introduce a charge of €0.80 per lift and €0.045 per kilogramme of recycling collected. Previously, it collected recycling for free.
In 2016, China took 95% of the plastic used in Ireland.
Panda emailed its customers, which includes homes under Ireland’s pay-as-you-throw system, to say that with material no longer able to go to China, “the cost of recycling worldwide has escalated dramatically as more companies worldwide jostle for access to reduced outlets in the rest of the world”.
Another Irish waste management company, Greyhound said in a statement to TheJournal.ie: “It has been widely reported that the change in Chinese policy has had a significant impact on the global recycling market and Ireland is no different to anywhere else in the world where local markets have experienced a significant increase in costs and and in some cases a total loss of some outlets.
“Greyhound has absorbed this cost to date and is exhausting all options before making a definitive decision.”
The Panda charge will begin on 19 April.
