Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

SME Energy and Carbon Demands, Green Initiatives and Technology: Discussion

Mr. John Magee:

On the Deputy's point about packaging, we are working really hard at a start-your-own-business programme level and in the various interactions we have with businesses that are starting up. We give them messages that are as simple as asking them to use less, use renewable and design for net zero. Recently, we saw that a small company that started up in County Cork is delivering its products by cargo bike. That is an example of the circular economy being made real at local level. We are seeing start-ups that are starting to think like that. It will be a bigger transition for the bigger companies, and maybe also for the Enterprise Ireland clients. However, at the start-up stage, there is a massive opportunity to get that thought process and culture embedded because they are at that crucial start-up point. We are seeing businesses starting to find ways. They are increasingly mindful of reducing packaging and waste and requiring less input. These are small shoots but we are seeing the culture starting to shift.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.