Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to look at the issue of refills. We need to look at the amount of plastic we consume for detergents and cosmetics. The Department might have a role to play in trying to incentivise the use of refillable bottles. It is happening now, but to a very small degree, in some SuperValu stores. This allows people to bring back used cosmetic bottles and refill them. This keeps the one bottle in circulation for much longer and people are prepared to do that. We all remember years ago our mothers carrying heavy tweed bags which they brought with them when they went shopping. They did not buy bags in the shop. I imagine most people would be quite happy to refill from plastic containers rather than to be dumping loads of conditioner and shampoo bottles every two weeks. I ask the Minister of State to see what kind of pressure can be put on the multiples to look at this as a proper initiative in order to give people the choice to recycle, reuse and refill their own bottles.

The second issue I want to raise is bottle and can retention scheme. My experience of the FMCG sector tells me that what will happen to happen is that the multiples will put pressure on the brands to support the purchase of these machines. When we see a €200,000 redemption machine in a supermarket we can be sure that the multiple will have paid next to nothing for that. It will have been brought in by pressing on the suppliers to provide money for it. This creates a really unfair situation for the small corner shops. If the owner of a small corner shop wants to provide that service he or she will have to pay for such a machine. If the owner does not invest in the machine there is a huge labour component in making bags and having them filled. I ask the Minister of State to talk to the Department of Finance about some type of a tax treatment to allow small corner shops to claim some tax benefit for implementing the scheme. They will have a cost in it that they cannot subsidise. I can assure the House that the multiples will not pay a penny for this and yet they will be advertising and virtue signalling by telling people that they can buy in the store and also get the redemption scheme sorted out.