Ms Mindy O'Brien:

I thank the Deputy. I would love to see all sorts of targets in there, but I do not know if that would be feasible here. I know from my experience in the US Congress that one should never legislate for the current government; instead, one should future-proof legislation. I would like to see language such as the Minister “shall” put in place targets and levies, rather than a “may”. That needs to be researched a little bit more. We would love to see high targets for reuse. If we do not set high targets for reuse, it will not happen. I also do not want to see a reuse target of 2% or waste prevention target of 2%. If one does not put a target on specific sectors or businesses, it is not going to be done.

In the last six years, the waste management plans had a waste reduction target of 2% but we increased waste over that timeframe. If one does not mandate certain entities to do it, they will not do it. I will leave it up to the legislators to decide whether the best approach is by statutory instrument or in primary legislation. I am not sure, but I have read through the Waste Management Act. I have seen many powers that the Minister “can” do but has not done. When I was working in the US Congress, they were reviewing something from the US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. It gave the US EPA a lot of discretion to do things. However, what happened was that the US EPA did none of it. Therefore, in the legislation, they changed all the instances of “may” to “shall”. I would like it to be mandatory that these things will be done.

On the compostablity standard, there is no real definition of “compostable”. The main criteria is the standard EN 13432. At the moment, some forks and some cutlery are labelled “degradable”. Some of them say “biodegradable”. I am biodegradable. Anything is biodegradable. However, the standard EN 13432 means that the product has to break down within 12 weeks in a composting facility. Many manufacturers are taking advantage and consumers are confused. Consumers see the “biodegradable” label and think it means they can put it into the compost bin. However, it is a term of art. We need one standard and one terminology for the Irish way.