Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. His first question was on whether the sectoral targets were done yet. They are not. They are in progress but not complete. We will see them later this year. Will they include targets for reuse? They will, and I know this because it is in the legislation that we must have reuse targets. We are, therefore, going to have them. It will be noticed as well that there are reuse targets in the procurement strategy. It is currently out for consultation and I hope all the members will rush back to their offices and read it now. It is possible to comment on what it is thought those targets should be. An example would be what percentage of ICT spending should be allocated to reused or renovated materials.

Regarding paper cups versus plastic cups, etc., the question that always needs to be analysed is substitution. If we put a penalty on using a particular material, then somebody is going to substitute that with something else. The question then is how that other material compares. It takes a lot of energy to make glass, for example. We must, therefore, ensure we are doing our analysis. This is why we do a regulatory impact assessment. A very detailed one was done on the cups. We must ensure that what we are doing does not have unintended consequences that do more harm than good. To give an example, we are familiar with this aspect with the plastic bag levy. People could sell a bag for life, but what if that only lasted a day? This meant that regulations had to be brought in to specify the thickness of a plastic bag, the minimum price if a plastic bag were being sold that did not attract the levy, etc. Taking that experience into account, the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 included the idea that we would avoid a situation where people were supplying the flimsiest of plastic cups as a replacement for paper cups, which would do more harm. This aspect, therefore, has been taken into account in the legislation.

I understand that people involved in manufacturing a product, and there is going to be a move towards some other product, are going to feel worried by this change and are going to lobby to preserve their own industry. The Deputy knows, however, that other industries, and this is what we are talking about today, are popping up that supply the alternative product, even if that is longer lasting or needs to be washed or whatever. There are opportunities here as well as losses. I have talked to the representatives of any of the companies who feel they will be losing out as a result of circular economy changes. I am always willing to talk to them and hope they can try to find a way to design new products that will take advantage of the changes happening in the market. Any market changes always mean new opportunities as well in a sector.

The Deputy also asked whether the circular economy plans should be integrated with the climate action plan. As he was saying, I think his view is that climate action should be based on the circular economy, and that if we could fold one into the other, then we would have stronger legislative backing for it. I think this is a good suggestion. I will go through the climate action plan, see how it meets with the circular economy strategy and make sure they overlap correctly.