The Bin people

When Martin Sheehan established Mr. Bin Man in 1993, he did so with two second hand trucks and no customers. The Co. Limerick based waste disposal company has gone from strength to strength in the intervening years. The affable M.D. spoke with Irish Trucker. Based at Luddenmore Grange, five miles from Limerick City and with a sub office at John’s Square, Limerick the company can now boast an impressive customer base of 26,000 domestic and 1,500 commercial customers.

“At that point in time we had three people employed. We started canvassing the people and built it from there. We now run eight bin trucks, four skip trucks, two hook loaders, two specialised recycling trucks, and one glass recycling truck. We also have four artics carrying the waste from the transfer station to the landfill site in New Castle West,” Martin explained.
The company is among a very select few which hold an Environmental Protection Agency licence. “That gives us permission to operate a transfer and recycling station. We employ two environmental science graduates to monitor all our business here,” he added.

Martin explained that the company’s success story to date had been built on hard work and dedication and he bemoans the lack of support the industry in general receives from government at national level. However, he explained that they did get valuable support along the way. “Without the help of the local authorities and the financial institutions we wouldn’t be where we are today. They had confidence in us from the very beginning.”

He elaborated on the secret of the company’s success. “We put a lot of hard work into it. We went out and met the people and we followed the work. We give a service and we guarantee that the waste will be collected on the day. We always carry two relief trucks in the yard to make sure of that. We listen to the customer’s problems and try to solve them the best we can.”
Domestic refuge is the mainstay of Martin’s operation and he readily admits as much.

“We believe the housewife is our best customer. If you treat her fairly she will stay with you. Commercial customers are commercial people. If somebody beats you by 50p on a bin they will leave you. The housewife is our bread and butter customer. She is more concerned with the service you can offer.”

Indeed the domestic market has been growing at unprecedented levels over the last three years. “We estimate that we have put in an extra 1,100 bins each year for the past three years and they are all new houses. They are either in the suburbs or in the city.” Martin explained that the burgeoning housing market has added significantly to his business.

To dovetail with the domestic refuge market the company also offer a skip service to facilitate customers. Martin explained that skips offer a very poor return on investment but “if you are in the business you have to be be able to give the full service.”
The company has some 1,500 commercial customers on its books. These are medium sized commercial concerns covering areas such as retail, hotels, pubs etc., and are predominantly based in the Limerick area. The company’s geographic customer base covers Limerick City and County and recently the company has extended its operations to Co. Clare offering both a commercial and domestic service.

As the landfill debate continues recycling is being touted as a “greener” option. At present the company are recycling about 20% of their waste which comes directly out of the waste stream. Timber, glass, aluminium cans, bottles, cardboard, ferrous and non ferrous metals are all hand picked from the waste stream for recycling.

Martin explained that there is room for improvement in this area.” We would hope to increase the recycling to about 35%. At the moment we are installing a glass automated recycling plant. We are also installing a picking station. This will include four or five people picking out the recyclable material into separate bins.”

The company also run a “green collection service” in pilot areas which Limerick Corporation have recommended. The rubbish is collected separately and goes for composting. Martin believes he has a moral obligation to promote recycling however, it is at a financial cost to the company and he believes the time is right for government funding. “They’ll have to put their hand in the pocket, if they don’t it won’t work. If they don’t encourage the people by giving them some incentive and the only way to give an incentive is to subsidise the cost and allow us to offer the service at a reduced rate it won’t work.”

At the moment recycling is eating into the company’s resources as Martin explained: “It is actually drawing out of our reserves, but we feel it is the proper thing to do. It doesn’t give us a financial reward unfortunately, but it would be very wrong for a company like ours to even attempt to pull away from it.”

While recycling is showing a negative return on investment for the affable Limerick man growth rates are impressive. “In two years it has grown out of all proportions. We take approximately 30 tonnes of glass, 10 tonnes of cardboard, half a tonne of aluminium cans, 10 tonne of scrap steel, and about 8 tonnes of pallets out of the waste stream every week. I think 50% recycling could be achieved comfortably enough.”

Martin predicts a buoyant future for the Irish waste disposal industry but warned that there are a number of challenges ahead. “In my opinion there will always good times for the waste disposal business because there will always be waste created. The biggest problem we see facing us is where it can be disposed of. Recycling will have to be totally encouraged and helped. Landfill in my opinion will eventually run out.”