Mr. Tom Dunne:

I thank the committee for having us today to explain what is going on. In listening to the discussion and the arguments made, I note that there seems to be a misunderstanding that somehow the money we are collecting is public money. Our scheme operates independently. All of the industry is represented on the board, of which I am the independent chairman. We should think about why we have this scheme. If we did not have this scheme, that is robust and is able to take the massive fluctuations in the market which we have to deal with, no plastics would be collected in this country at all. We are a non-profit organisation. We are set up in such a way that we can take the difficulties as well as the good times. Our company has really stabilised the market. If we were not in operation, no plastics would be being collected. There would be a massive problem. Therefore, the committee must take it in the round and understand the situation. We sympathise greatly with those who find themselves in a difficult market situation. However, they took a commercial decision. When they took that decision they knew the way the system operated.

One of the members - I believe it was Senator Daly - asked how we figure out the charges. Each year, with all of the industry representatives on the board, we do a balancing exercise. We look at how much it is going to cost us to recycle the plastics that we are managing. We set our charges at the minimum level possible. The reason the system is set up as it is, and the reason there is a charge for the farmer at the bring centre, is because of the nature of the plastic. The nature of the farm plastic is that it is a most difficult product to deal with and it has 50% contamination. Therefore, the reason for the charges at the bring centre is to encourage the farmers to ensure that the plastic is as clean as possible, because they are charged on a weight basis. This has led to a much better product over the years because the farmer is incentivised to keep the plastic clean. This means that we can move the plastics up a category from amber to green and that is it worth more money.

We are striving to make this plastic worth more money so that the costs are reduced back to the farmer. At the end of the day, we all know that it is the consumer who pays the price. The producers pay the levy, but in the end the consumer has to pay. We are trying to make this service as cheap as possible for the farmer. If 100% of the plastic comes to us, we will recycle it 100% of it.