Workers at the semi-state owned Bord na Móna Recycling have promised to ballot for a strike if the company is ever privatised.

On Newstalk Breakfast, SIPTU divisional organiser Adrian Kane said the trade union are trying their “damnedest” to ensure Bord na Móna Recycling isn’t privatised.

“What Bord na Móna tell us is that there is a strategic review underway, which they're looking at three options,” he said.

“One - further investment, two - a joint venture, or three - the sale of the company.

“When we asked them, ‘Are you actively selling the company?’ they said ‘Yes, we are actively accepting bids’.

“So they speak with forked tongues, as it were.”

Recognising a trade union

Mr Kane said SIPTU doesn’t believe it's a good idea to privatise Bord na Móna recycling.

“Primarily because we don't believe that we can protect our members terms and conditions if the company is privatised,” he said.

“I say that on the basis that no other waste company at the moment recognises a trade union for collective bargaining purposes, and we believe that it's better for the state, it's better for the environment and better for our workers and our members.”

Siptu strike placard, © PA Wire/PA Images

Mr Kane said Bord na Móna Recycling is a key strategic asset.

“The reason why is what Bord na Móna recycling does primarily is domestic waste collection and we have the most dysfunctional domestic waste collection service in Europe,” he said.

“We have a situation where almost one-in-four households have no domestic waste collection service at all.

“There was a study conducted by Dublin City Council in 2023 of comparative European cities like Stockholm, Strasbourg and Copenhagen - no other city, only Dublin, has a problem with illegal dumping.

“That stems primarily from the fact that we don't have a situation the rest of Europe has where either the local authority collects the waste or you tender for the entire market.”

"One provider per local authority"

Mr Kane said it all comes back to the relationship that the state has with collecting waste from its citizens.

“If you apply just pure market forces, you end up in the situation that that we're in,” he said.

“The point I would make is - if you look at this comparative study that was done with regards to Dublin City Council, every other country has as a system whereby it is one provider per local authority.

“Then you build in a provision in terms of, if it's not possible for a household to pay that there is some subvention by the state.”

Bord na Móna sign. Image: Rollingnews.ie

Mr Kane said previously the waiver system was abused but we must “learn from the problems of the past”.

“The problem that we have now is that this is a really dysfunctional way in which we collect waste and it's leading to huge illegal waste,” he said.

“You can't run a notionally first world economy where one-quarter of households have no service at all and that then leads to illegal dumping.

“Nobody seems to be terribly interested in trying to address that - we are.”

Mr Kane said that in terms of jobs within Bord na Móna, they’re working so that their members don’t have to transition out of “what are decent jobs at the moment”.

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Card and glass bottles in recycling bins ready for collection, 14-8-17. Image: Steve Hawkins Photography / Alamy