Ms Sarah Aitken:

Chairman, committee members and people of Ireland, my name is Sarah Aitken, I am 17, and I am a member of Foróige from Mayo. I am here today to speak about waste and how our country can manage waste better. I will talk about recycling waste, reducing unnecessary waste and reusing waste in productive ways.

First, I will discuss recycling. Although Ireland is improving each year regarding how much waste is being recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, people living in Ireland produce more than 14 million tonnes of waste each year. We cannot continue this. There are some important ways in which our policymakers can encourage people to recycle more, including by making recycling affordable and easily accessible for people all over the country. We need to make recycling appealing for both the general public and the manufacturing industry. For example, in Wales waste recycling jumped from 5% to 64% over 20 years because the government there put ambitious plans in place, including reducing single-use products, waste separation in households and putting a responsibility scheme in place for manufacturers.

As a young person, I feel there is a lack of available information and understanding about the Irish recycling system. Many people are not aware that 36% of recycling is contaminated because people are using the wrong bins, or that much of our waste in Ireland is actually incinerated. In Ireland, there may be a lack of understanding and awareness about the process of recycling. I feel that if people saw the many benefits from their recycling efforts, they would be more inclined to participate.

Much recycling is contaminated because products are made of several components, only some of which are recyclable. For example, a plastic bottle is made up of a lid, bottle and label. The bottle could be recyclable but the lid and label might not be. Often people don't know this and throw the whole thing away. This means a perfectly good recyclable product can be rejected and burned. It can be very confusing for people. However, my suggested solution would be to introduce better standards and regulations so products with multiple components would have to be fully recyclable. This would greatly reduce the amount of incorrect recycling that happens in Ireland.

We also need to reduce the amount of waste that is being produced in the first place. There are many ways in which this can be achieved, such as eliminating single-use plastics, reducing food waste and tackling the issue of fast fashion.

Our society is still too reliant on single-use plastic. The products of hospitality, retail and supermarkets are heavily composed of single-use plastic. According to the EPA, most of the products we buy are contained in packaging to protect them during transport and make them look attractive on the shelves of supermarkets. When these goods are unpacked, the packaging becomes waste. Ireland generated over 1.1 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2019, an increase of 11% from the previous year. This is completely unsustainable. I feel that working towards a zero single-use plastic strategy in Ireland, apart from in medical environments, is crucial to reduce overall waste and positively impact the environment.

Our policymakers should crack down on big companies that excessively package their products. There should be incentives for companies which reduce unnecessary packaging and encourage their consumers to be more environmentally friendly. For example, in Germany companies have to pay a fee when more packaging is used. This has led not only to less packaging but also to thinner glass, paper and metal.

In addition, as consumers, we all need to limit the amount of single-use plastic we purchase. Most fast-fashion items bought in Ireland are disposed of within a few months, causing huge amounts of waste. However, more sustainably produced items are expensive and harder to find. Many young people are now turning to vintage and second-hand shops, and apps like Depop, to buy and sell clothing, which reduces waste and increases the affordability of fashion.

My colleagues in Foróige and I have a proposed approach that we like to call "regress to progress". This policy would involve extra support for using methods that we used years ago – for example, reusing old milk bottles for milk or supporting companies that repair their clothing products for free. We would also like to introduce life skills, such as sewing and knitting, to all young people in secondary school. This would encourage young people to repair their clothes and to be more sustainable.

When it is not possible to reduce or recycle waste, we need to look at options to turn waste into new products or energy. For example, in Sweden citizens separate their waste into different coloured bags, depending on the type of waste. The waste that cannot be recycled is burned in plants that transform their combustion into energy – a process known as "waste to energy" – to provide electricity for 250,000 homes in the country. Only 1% of waste in Sweden is sent to landfill, as opposed to 15% in Ireland in 2019.

I hope it is clear from the points I have discussed that waste management is a major concern for young people in Ireland. While it is a difficult issue, it can be tackled in many innovative ways. There are over 600,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 living in Ireland. Even small changes can make a big difference. We are great at spreading awareness and encouraging others in our lives, schools and communities to change their habits too.

Many people feel that climate change is a faraway issue. It is not. However, individuals can do only so much. It is members' responsibility as our legislators to help people understand and make these necessary changes, introduce effective policies for waste management, make recycling and waste reduction appealing and easy to implement, and facilitate creative solutions so we can use waste material productively to benefit our communities. We have to act now. We need members to act now. I thank them for this opportunity and for listening.