Ms Mindy O'Brien:

I thank Deputy Cronin for agreeing with a lot of the things. In terms of the Dáil, we approached the Dáil - Voice did - earlier this year. After speaking to Senator Boylan about reuse, we tried to get a proposal together for the Dáil to get rid of all the disposables and go for reuse. It went along great and then it stopped. I do not know where that is, but if the Deputy can push it forward, we would love to do a pilot with the Dáil to have all reusables here and even have a reverse vending machine to educate how the DRS will work.

In terms of Capitol Hill, it was back in the 1990s. I remember them coming in, talking about energy efficiency standards or fuel efficiency standards and stating that they could not possibly do that, but they did. I remember one company came in and actually exceeded the standards. Then they used that. They wanted increased standards because they were already there. They wanted their competition to be behind the eight ball. They were saying that they thought the standards should be really high because they had already achieved them. Industry can do a lot more. They are giving themselves short shrift not thinking that they can.

It is reported that small businesses can save up to $322,000 per annum through reuse. Reuse reduces waste costs. Businesses never think about the purchase of disposables. That costs a great deal of money. If they invest in reusables, the water, the energy and the staff are negligible, so they can save money. They just need to give it a try.