Seanad debates
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Recycling Policy
12:30 pm
Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the kids from sixth class, rang a sé, from County Meath to the House as well. I welcome my colleague from Mayo, the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Dillon. As I think this is first session in the Seanad, I wish him a very long and bright future as a Minister of State, and that he would be back many times to this House.
I first put this issue to the Department of enterprise.This is where it should be. I do not think it is suitable for the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. It seems there is no funding at all from that Department for recycling. This is more than recycling. We have recycling centres, bottle banks, glass banks and the recycling of steel, among other things, and it all goes into a bin where it is mashed up and then it is reused again. The dismantling of cars and the recycling of the components is completely different. I wrote to the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications about it.
I recently visited Naughtons Car Dismantlers just outside Castlebar. The Minister of State is well acquainted with it. It provides a great service for our county in getting rid of old and unused cars. Ian Naughton runs a magnificent show but he is getting very little funding. The work is very labour-intensive and requires massive warehousing and specialised computer software. There are not many grants available for this work. Mr. Naughton has to build an enormous warehouse. These warehouses have to be computerised. The warehouse can also be automated so that if a person goes in looking for a part he or she can get it by going through the computer and it comes down online. What he is doing there is completely different to recycling and there is no grant aid towards it. He has developed software that puts a carbon credit on every part taken from a car or other vehicle that can be reused. When someone in the motor trade goes in and buys a second-hand part from Mr. Naughton - he sells online as well as allowing people to come in off the street to buy parts - the buyer gets a certificate with the carbon credit for the part. That tells how much a person is saving by using a second-hand part rather than buying a new one. All this costs an enormous amount of money.
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications cannot do anything for him but I think the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is the proper place for this. The Government should provide grant aid to such people to put proper facilities in place for this purpose right around the country.
I will listen very carefully to the reply from the Minister of State. I am sure part of it will be the same as the reply I already received from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. The Minister of State should bring back the message that this area should be looked at because it is a growth area. As we progress towards electric vehicles and so forth, there will probably be more recycling of parts as they are not all thrown into the skip. This is completely different from recycling as we know it. The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. It is his first time here. I look forward to his response. I thank him very much for coming in.
Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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Before the Minister of State comes in, I officially welcome him to the House. I am really looking forward to working with him in the future. I wish him every success in his new role.
Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh. I also thank Senator Burke for his warm welcome. I look forward to working with them and their colleagues in Seanad Éireann.
This is an important matter and I welcome the opportunity to outline the current position on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth. Over the past two decades Ireland has made significant progress in moving away from disposal as our primary treatment option. Ireland's national Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy provides a roadmap to transition to a circular economy in the decade ahead. One of the key objectives in this action plan includes making producers who manufacture and sell goods for profit environmentally accountable for the products they place on the market. Ireland uses the extended producer responsibility, EPR, model to deal with the end-of-life vehicles waste stream. This model is based on the producer-pays principle. In a circular economy, producers must be held to account for the sustainability of the products they place on the market.The extended producer responsibility, EPR, scheme has an effective method to achieve this. The compliance scheme for end-of-life vehicles, ELVs, is operated by End-of-Life Vehicles Environmental Services, ELVES, a non-profit company that was set up by vehicle manufacturers to help them to deliver their obligations under the end-of-life vehicles regulations.
ELVES received approval to operate as the compliance scheme for the vehicles sector from my Department in 2017. It is funded solely by its producer members. Fees paid by the producer members are spent on reuse, recycling and recovery of end-of-life vehicles. In 2022, €2 of every €3 of its income were spent directly on these costs. It is important that end-of-life vehicles are recycled to extract valuable materials from them, which contribute to the EU's self-sufficiency in the area of critical raw materials. Critically, appropriate disposal and recycling is necessary to ensure end-of-life vehicles do not harm the environment.
ELVES has a network of authorised treatment facilities, ATFs, which facilitate the dismantling and recycling of end-of-life vehicles. It provides training, education and guidance to ATFs and operates a programme of sector education awareness-raising activities. ELVES delivers and financially supports projects to improve car recycling in Ireland. The EPR scheme has operated successfully, allowing attainment of EU targets for end-of-life vehicles. In 2021, Ireland achieved the EU target for both recovery and recycling of end-of-life vehicles. However, as the automotive industry continues to evolve, so too does the need for effective management of the waste streams to minimise environmental impact and promote the circular economy.
The European Commission has made proposals for a ELVs regulation and the new rules for the design and management of these vehicles with stronger producer responsibility. These regulations are under consideration and Ireland has made a positive and proactive contribution as negotiations progress. I welcome this significant initiative which aims to establish a comprehensive framework for the environmentally sound treatment and recycling of ELVs, placing greater responsibility on vehicle producers, from design to production to treatment at end of life. We will seek an appropriate balance in the negotiations between achieving real and meaningful environmental outcomes, on one hand, and getting buy-in from producers and those involved in the treatment of end-of-life vehicles, on the other.
ELVES, as the compliance scheme, will continue to plan for the implementation of the new regulations and adopt policy directions in relation to end-of-life vehicles, as appropriate. The transition to a circular economy offers an alternative to our make waste linear economy. In a circular economy, waste and resource use are minimised and the value of products and materials is maintained for as long as possible. In a circular economy, when a product has reached the end of its life, its parts can be used again and again to create further useful products, such as in the car recycling industry.
Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for the response. However, there is no great light at the end of the tunnel in this. It seems that the Department does not mind what is thrown into the skip. The value of all this is that parts are recycled. For parts to be recycled and a carbon footprint to be attached to them, they have to be physically taken out of the car that is being recycled. That costs money and labour. The Minister of State has to bring back to the Minister and Government the message that they do not seem to care what goes into the skip. There has to be a better way. Grants need to be made available to these people. Otherwise, they will not be able to afford to invest because it takes an enormous amount of money to do what they are doing, taking those parts out of cars and other vehicles, attaching a carbon footprint to them, logging them, putting them up for sale and having a system where people can get them easily when someone comes looking for them. Will the Minister of State bring that message back to the Government and Minister?
Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. The points he has made about ownership and which Department is most responsible and most effective in the implementation of this are very valid.
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication has run a circular economy innovation grant scheme for a number of years. I understand an announcement is expected shortly regarding this year’s call for applications. This scheme is specifically aimed to support innovation and demonstrate circular economy projects by small and medium enterprise and social enterprises. It is a key objective of the scheme to support projects that will have a direct impact on operating environments and act as a demonstrator for others.
A further €650,000 has been allocated to support the scheme in 2024, bringing the total funding to €1.8 million since the scheme was launched in 2021. Similarly, the Environmental Protection Agency’s circular economy programme promotes circularity as an economic model to enhance coherence and alignment among national, regional and local activities. The desired outcome is to mobilise businesses.
As the Senator said, Naughtons Car Dismantlers outside Castlebar is one of the premium dismantlers in County Mayo and should be supported. I certainly support the Senator in that regard. While I know Mayo local enterprise office does fantastic work, it is important that our network of enterprise support agencies expands to provide individualised supports for businesses of every size. I encourage people in businesses who have ideas, including those the Senator commendably raised, to speak to the local enterprise office which can direct them further on where the expertise and funding may become available.