Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As the Deputy may be aware a landfill levy on the disposal of waste at landfills has been in place for more than two decades currently levied at €85 per tonne and as of the 1st September 2023 there is also a waste recovery levy on the incineration, co-incineration, backfilling and waste exported for recovery currently levied at €10 per tonne.

To date, Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste has been exempt from these environmental levies. However, C&D is the fastest growing waste stream, accounting for over half of the total waste currently being generated in Ireland with only 8% being recycled or reused. Given that substantial volumes of this weight are potentially preventable, re-usable or recyclable it presents a significant opportunity for Ireland’s transition to a more circular economy.

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has introduced measures to support this transition such as the national by-product (prevention and reuse) and end of waste (recycling) decisions for construction materials. These decisions allow for usable C&D material to be treated as a resource rather than a waste thereby delivering considerable savings for the construction sector.

Consequently, I intend to amend the Waste Recovery and Landfill Levy Regulations to remove the levy exemptions for C&D waste with effect from 1st September 2024. Therefore, C&D waste disposed of or recovered, from the 1st September, will be subject to these environmental levies.

C&D waste that is disposed at landfills under the Landfill Levy will not be charged the full €85/tonne levy rate, instead a lower rate of €10 per tonne will be introduced for this waste stream. C&D waste going to recovery will be levied at €10 per tonne under the waste recovery levy.

The purpose of removing this exemption for C&D waste is to incentivise the construction industry to reduce the amount of C&D waste it currently sends to waste recovery or disposal and re-use the material in accordance with the EPA Circular Economy initiatives to achieve cost savings.

Key stakeholders including the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA) and the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) have already been notified in relation to the removal of the C&D waste levy exemptions and the local authority system is currently making arrangements for the collection of the levies for C&D waste, whether disposed or recovered, with effect from 1st September 2024.