Panda will not be the only waste collection company to increase their fees, Sinead Ryan has predicted. 

The company has announced an inflation busting price rise for the 300,000 households in North County Dublin who use its services. 

On The Hard Shoulder, Sinead Ryan described the prices as “quite severe”. 

“The fees themselves are going up by a multiple of inflation,” she said. 

“The company is putting this down to increased costs; we know there are increased costs in terms of transportation, fuel. 

“They’re saying in terms of how products are recycled, the processing has gone up. 

“So, it looks like ordinary households are absolutely going to be hammered here.” 

Card and glass bottles in recycling bins ready for collection. Picture by: Steve Hawkins Photography / Alamy

Ms Ryan said that the fees are “just the thin end of the wedge” and that soon “they’ll all be at it”. 

“The service fee, which is charged every half-year, that’s not going up by too much, it’s going up from €67.50 to €70,” she said. 

“The waste bin, that’s going up by 15% - and this is all happening next Saturday, by the way.”

“Shockingly, the green bin, the recycling bin, the one we’re all supposed to use, that’s going up by a whopping 25% - from €1 to €1.25.

“The company has said there’s no change to the cost of brown bin but, to be honest, Greyhound, which is a competitor, has increased charges in the last while as well by 10%."

Refuse collectors riding on the back of a lorry. Picture by: Islandstock / Alamy.

In a statement to Newstalk, Panda said they were “only passing on a portion” of the extra costs incurred by the business. 

"The overall charge for customers is increasing by an average of €20 for the year, which equates to an average increase of about 6.5%," a spokesperson said.

"Panda has made every effort to keep the pricing adjustment as modest as possible.”

Main image: A black bin on a residential street. Picture by: William Barton / Alamy Stock Photo