Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank both speakers. It has been informative. I have a couple of points. I am glad Ms O'Brien said she would rather not have compostable be the minimum for use because she is correct that things do not get composted. Nothing in the Leinster House complex gets composted. I have come from the European Parliament where thousands of people work and the canteens there reuse. People pay a €2 deposit when purchasing lunch and they can be collected and brought back in bulk, or returned on the same day. It works. IKEA is a perfect example. Thousands of people go through the doors of IKEA and it does not use disposable tableware but plates, cups and glasses. It can be done when there is the will to do it.

Could Mr. Schweitzer elaborate on the point he made about Ireland not collecting the data on material flow? The OECD has been doing work on this since 2004. For the benefit of members of the committee, why is that important to do? We should move towards targets similar to those the Dutch and the Finns have. I agree with the point around the 20% of supermarket space for 400 sq. m. I would love to see reuse and refillable in every shop but I am thinking of the example of off-licences and the kickback over having those doors in place. Have either Ms O'Brien or Mr. Schweitzer heard what the reaction was is French supermarkets to implementing that rule? Was there much of a kickback from the supermarkets? Should we just push ahead with it because of what we learned from implementing the alcohol rules?

Another point is relates to the potential for job creation, not just in developing our own recycling processing, but, more important, around reuse and the collecting and cleaning. There is great potential for job creation which the witnesses may wish to comment on.

Finally, we talked about glass with Voice Ireland and we still think glass should be in the deposit return scheme even though we have high rates of glass recycling. That is because there is an added benefit for anybody who walks their dog or goes along beaches or local football pitches, as broken glass is a major problem for them. There is an antisocial element to it. A deposit on glass bottles is more likely to address that issue, as well as the recycling. I 100% agree with reuse. There is a great example of a craft beer company and the bottles that are created. While the initial outlay on the bottle is more expensive for the craft brewers, it reduces costs in the long run because they can reuse those bottles.

Those are just a couple of comments. The questions were whether the witnesses know of any kickback from supermarkets and, for Mr. Schweitzer, why the material footprint so important.