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Current waste market ‘failing consumers’

The chair of the competition watchdog has said that the current structure of the Irish waste-collection market “will never properly deliver” for the Irish public. 

Brian McHugh called on the Government to act, saying that a policy change was “long overdue”. 

The chair of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) was writing in the Business Post today (15 April). 

Merger pattern 

His comments came after the watchdog last week approved the sale of Bord na Móna Recycling to KAES Recycling, subject to the sale of certain parts of KAES’s business. 

McHugh said that the latest merger in the sector followed a similar pattern to previous deals, adding that the current merger regime could not solve the current problems in the market. 

The CCPC chair warned that, while a choice of providers was usually a sign of a healthy and well-functioning market, domestic waste collection was not a typical market. 

“Most European countries came to a similar conclusion years ago, and they ensure waste collection is structured more efficiently, so that they don’t have three trucks driving down the same road, while elsewhere there is no bin service,” McHugh stated. 

He pointed to strong State-led control and regulation of the service in other European countries. 

Recommendations ‘unimplemented’ 

In 2018, in a study of the sector, the CCPC recommended the establishment of an economic regulator to set out the optimal market structure for the Irish waste market. 

“Seven years later, despite broad support, these recommendations remain unimplemented,” McHugh wrote in the Business Post. 

While acknowledging the difficulties faced by Government in reforming the sector, he said that it was “not good enough” to avoid necessary reform “just because it is hard”. 

Referring to hints of legal action from some waste companies if changes were implemented, McHugh said: “While the current system works for them, the status quo is failing consumers.”