Laois wheelie bin workers could strike if service sold off
Bord na Móna Recycling workers to vote on strike action if privatisation proceeds
Customers of a big wheelie bin services in Laois could be hit if the State-owned company decides to sell its waste collection firm to a private company.
Services could be impacted after SIPTU members employed in Bord na Móna Recycling, the last publicly owned domestic waste collection service in the State, voted to ballot for strike action if plans to privatise the company go ahead.
SIPTU Divisional Organiser, Adrian Kane, commented in a statement issued to the Leinster Express / Laois Live after workers met in Portlaoise on Wednesday, February 6 to discuss its response to the possible multi-million euro deal.
“At a very well-attended meeting last night in Portlaoise, SIPTU members in Bord na Móna Recycling voted unanimously to proceed to a ballot for industrial action, up to and including strike action, if privatisation plans proceed. They see this as the only means at their disposal to protect their terms and conditions of employment if the Government and company advances their ill-thought-out plans.
“SIPTU representatives will meet the company shortly to discuss the situation. We also intend to request an urgent meeting with the new Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy, Darragh O’Brien. At these meetings we will relay our members’ solid opposition to a privatisation which would undoubtedly damage their terms and conditions of employment.
“No political party stood in the recent General Election with a manifesto containing a commitment to privatising Bord na Móna Recycling, neither is such a clause contained in the Programme for Government.
“The domestic waste collection sector is like the wild west. Report after report is calling for more regulation, state investment and oversight. We cannot have a repeat of the Eircom debacle which put Ireland’s telecommunications sector behind the global competition for decades. The privatisation of Bord na Móna Recycling is bad for workers, the environment and customers. It will be opposed strongly by our members,” he said.
KWD Recycling, a Kerry-based waste company, is understood to be the preferred bidder to buy Bord na Móna Recycling. The Sunday Times reports that the publicly owned Bord na Móna wants to sell its waste wing for €55 million.
It was also report in 2024 that the semi-state company hired PWC earlier this year to find a buyer for its waste collection, recycling and landfill operations.
Bord na Móna completed a €61 m purchase of waste management company Advanced Environmental Solutions (Ireland) in 2007. It was reported at the time that the acquisition of part of Bord na Móna's strategy of diversification into waste management and power generation.
Bord na Móna has planning permission for a bio-gas plant in Portlaoise that would convert household and commercial organic waste into gas and fertiliser.
The company issued a brief statement. "Bord na Móna’s strategic review of its recycling business is still in progress and further comment cannot be provided at this point".