Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

One of the reasons construction and demolition waste goes to landfill in Ireland is because it is exempt from landfill levies. The landfill levy is €85 a tonne and most of the material going into landfill now is exempt. The reason it was exempt until now was that it was not possible to get an EPA determination in a reasonable period of time to be able to use it on another site. That has changed. Once that change came in from the EPA this year, I then said it was time to end the landfill levy exemptions for construction and demolition waste. When that comes in - I expect it will come in September - it will be much more financially beneficial to reuse demolition products rather than send them to landfill. We send about 8 million tonnes of soil and stone product to landfill at the moment. Half of that will be reused. That will be the biggest jump in our circularity and recycling and a big reduction in the number of truck movements and the amount of quarrying and material sent to landfill this year. Those EPA determinations have been made. That is a very positive thing to look forward to and progress is being made. It is a difficult thing to get to but it is in the interest of the builders, if not in the interests of people who are quarrying or operating a landfill for a living.