CHARITIES have been told they will be charged for dumping unwanted rubbish from house clearances at the tip in Douglas.
Until now, charities have not been charged from dumping materials at the Eastern Civic Amenity site.
But following the phased transfer of waste disposal costs onto local authorities, Douglas Council says this is ‘unsustainable’ and it can longer afford to offer the service free of charge.
From April 1, charities have been charged the domestic rate of £57.35 per tonne for dumping waste at the Middle River with a lower rate of £35 per tonne for timber including furniture.
Share The Care, the retail subsidiary of Hospice Isle of Man, said the move will cost the charity £3,725 a year.
In a statement it said: ‘Hospice Care and Share The Care view with dismay the decision of the joint committee for the Eastern Civic Amenity Site to press ahead with charges to charities for the disposal of waste.’
Councillor Bill Malarkey, who represents Douglas on the Eastern Civic Amenity Site joint committee, told a meeting of the full council: ‘It’s not our waste – we are not running a charity.
‘These charities are collecting from all over the island but they only take it to one place – Douglas. What they don’t want they get rid of free of charge. We can’t afford to do it any more. Government can’t keep expecting to dump everything onto us and for us to pick up the bill.’
Councillors heard that one charity had dumped seven tonnes of house clearance waste at Middle River in just one month, while a second had dumped five tonnes.
Hospice Care had asked for an exemption from the height restriction to enable it to continue to use the site for house clearances.
Under the Public Health Act 1990, waste from house clearances by charities is treated as ‘household’ waste so until now has not been charged for.
But local authority finances have been squeezed by the announcement that the government is withdrawing its £5.7 million annual subsidy for disposing of waste through the Energy from Waste plant (incinerator), transferring the full cost onto the rate payer in phases up to 2018, by which time the rate charged for domestic waste will the same as that for commercial waste.
Gate fees went up in April form £35 per tonne for domestic waste and £106 per tonne for commercial waste to £57.35 and £130 respectively, and will increase annually so both will reach £161.35 per tonne by 2018.
This will increase the rate borne cost in Douglas from the current £467,000 to £2.147 million by 2018-19 – an increase of 360 per cent.
Douglas councillors said they were reluctant to impose charges on charities but felt disposal costs were being unfairly borne by the ratepayers of the six local authorities involved in the Eastern Civic Amenity Site – Douglas, Braddan, Laxey, Lonan, Onchan and Santon.
Mr Malarkey told the Examiner: ‘This is something imposed by government. My job is to safeguard the Douglas ratepayer.’
Murrays ward councillor John Skinner told the meeting of full council: ‘While acknowledging the good work of all charities, I feel it is unfair ratepayers should have to take on the additional burden of charities to get shut of their rubbish.’
Athol ward councillor Stan Cain suggested charities such as Hospice Isle of Man were now run as a business.
But Derby ward councillor John Faragher said it was unfair to target all charities as not all had retail outlets. Mr Malarkey replied: ‘We can’t start picking and choosing. It’s all or nothing.’
The proposal to invoice charities for depositing waste at the Middle River site was approved by 14 votes to three – those voting against being Councillors John Faragher, Chris Thomas (St George’s) and Eddie Joyce (Hills).
Currently, each civic amenity site is required under law to accept waste from other parts of the island.
Mr Malarkey said he was campaigning for that legislation to be altered to stop this happening. ‘The reason we are being critical is because of the amount of waste being brought to the site from outside Douglas.’
He said that on Good Friday and East Monday, the Southern Civic Amenity site had been closed. ‘So where did all that rubbish go?’ asked Mr Malarkey. ‘The piece of legislation must be altered.’