Mr. Leslie Carberry:

The Netherlands is held up in the EU as best in class for its circular economy. To use the metric of the circularity rate, which is the amount of resources that go into an economy and are then circulated back in, as opposed to being disposed of or exported, Ireland is the second worst. We are below 2%. The Netherlands is in the high 20s. It shows what a coherent policy framework, not just around legislation, but a whole joined-up approach about awareness and a focus on both consumers and producers, as has been noted by the committee, can achieve. If we were looking to best in class, we would say it is the Netherlands. Some innovative work is also being done in Scotland around Zero Waste Scotland, such as what it has done around reuse and repair.