The reported privatisation of Bord na Móna Recycling is a nonsencial, neoliberal idea that has the potential to worsen Ireland’s existing waste collection problem. Instead, money made by the body ought to be used to fund local waste collection services, according to Garrett Greene, Workers’ Party representative for Cabra-Glasnevin.

Greene said:
“The privatisation of Bord na Móna Recycling would be nonsensical yet typical of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party’s neoliberal attitude towards publicly-owned services. Despite the fact that, according to the Business Post, the semi-state body brought in €100 million in revenue in its most recent financial reports, it is likely to be sold for somewhere between €50 million and €100 million. Where is the long-term sense in that?”

“It is obvious already that the privatisation of waste collection has been a disaster. It has led to an increase in dumping, littering and the removal of public bins, yet here we are discussing furthering this process. Many of Bord na Móna’s customers are commercial brands. Following on from the failure of domestic waste privatisation, can we really trust the private market not to end up doing the same but on an industrial scale?”

“Instead of being handed over to the private profiteers, Bord na Móna ought to establish a national recycling centre, to be run on a commercial basis and with the surplus being reinvested into subsidising waste collection services. Each local authority could have shares in the new company and could be issued with a rebate proportionate to the amount of recyclable material it collects, to be reinvested into fully covering the costs of waste collection in that area.”