The Minister for Environment has warned waste collection firms they are in the "last chance saloon" following new reforms.

Minister Alan Kelly announced that Mandatory Service Levels and Customer Charter for Waste Collectors are to be introduced next year.

Speaking at the Environment Ireland Conference Minister Kelly said: "We have moved in a relatively short space of time from a system in which municipal waste authorities had full control over the waste market, but were over-stretched and under-resourced to do the job and operate to the standards required under national and EU law, to a situation in which we have handed over responsibility to the private sector, without giving the State adequate levers with which to regulate how services are provided.

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"However, if next year the level of compliance with the new reforms is not sufficient, then I am prepared to take steps next year to review the current regime and system and consider other market approaches that can deliver the necessary improvements for all household waste collection markets in Ireland."

(CD/MH)