Ms Claire Downey:

Our vision for the future of consumer durables in Ireland is threefold. First of all, Ireland’s consumption rates will be dramatically reduced. Our consumption rates are currently high when compared with those of other regions. The circular material use rate, CMUR, is the ratio between recycled materials and overall material use. Ours is the second lowest in Europe at 1.8%. Our EPA-funded research indicates this is primarily due to high economy-wide consumption levels, particularly related to construction materials and biomass, and low recycling rates compared with other regions. Studies on the consumption of specific consumer durables are limited. However, the EPA-funded study relating to textiles, led by Clean Technology Centre with the Rediscovery Centre, CRNI and Charity Retail Ireland, found Ireland’s consumption of textiles is high at 53 kg per person. Current research into Ireland’s circularity gap, which is being conducted by Circle Economy for the Department, will provide further insights into our consumption patterns and circularity through alternative methodologies, which we welcome. From what we know it is already very clear our consumption rates need to be dramatically reduced.

The second part of our vision for consumer durables is that Ireland's reuse and future repair targets effectively drive change. We are hopeful the suite of national statutory targets introduced through the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 and national waste management plan for a circular economy will underpin significant growth in the sector. These targets primarily relate to consumer durables. The Q2 Reuse study was pioneering research led by Clean Technology Centre in partnership with CRNI and the Rediscovery Centre. It provided the foundation for a reuse target for consumer durables in Ireland. It provided a methodology for measuring reuse and a baseline figure of 6.52 kg per person in 2020. A 2021 citizen survey conducted by the EPA indicated current levels of reuse could be as high as 10.6 kg per person. Ireland’s statutory national reuse target is set at 20 kg per person. It is the first of its kind in Europe, is highly ambitious and will require at least a twofold increase in reuse compared with current baseline levels. It is important to note that even through our small-scale reuse demonstration enterprises at the Rediscovery Centre, we have reused approximately 55,000 kg in the past three years, with an estimated saving of 120,000 kg of carbon equivalent. However, as the national centre for the circular economy, our aim is to facilitate much larger multiplier effects nationwide. We support growth in reuse and repair through our circular economy academy and our community climate action programme providing training mentoring and support based on our operational experience to enable new community reuse and repair projects.

We also work closely with local authorities to support reuse at civic amenity sites nationwide.

In addition to reuse, a focus on repair in the waste plan is extremely welcome as studies show there has been a decline in repair professionals over time and a decline in manual skills for repair. Furthermore, our recent EPA-funded research on barriers to repair cafés highlighted the significant challenge in obtaining or affording insurance for product liability. Overcoming these and other barriers and meeting our targets will require a concerted effort and focus on reuse and repair.

The third aspect of our vision is that social enterprises be supported and recognised in the context of their role in driving the sector. Social enterprises are recognised in Ireland and across the EU as pioneers in circular economy business models that are highly impactful in delivering green skills training and jobs. Research into reuse measurement found that social enterprises and charities operate approximately half of all second-hand outlets in Ireland. The Rediscovery Centre is just one of a network of social enterprises working in the reuse and repair sector supported by CRNI, which I have no doubt Mr. Mooney-Brown and the team will talk about. Ireland's interdepartmental approach to supporting social enterprises in the circular economy is unique in Europe and should be safeguarded into the future.

Overall, the vision includes more sustainable consumption levels, a target-driven reuse and repair sector and a thriving social enterprise network delivering social, economic and environmental benefits. There are a number of measures that need to be addressed to deliver on this vision. First, citizens of Ireland need to be engaged, informed and enabled to transition to a circular economy. We are pleased to be working on a new project to support citizen engagement and deliver a national platform for the circular economy. This five-year collaborative project is supported by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication and involves collaboration with the EPA, the regional waste management plan lead authorities, the Local Government Management Agency and the wider network for circular economy communicators. It will support excellence in communications and citizen engagement nationwide and will be underpinned by market research and insights. This work will build on and support the active network of circular economy communicators and NGOs that are already raising awareness of, and providing public access to, circular economy solutions and services.

That brings me to our second point. We need to create the enabling environment for prevention, reuse and repair in Ireland, facilitated through the realignment of economic models and policy instruments. As we have outlined, the challenge is significant. Meeting the reuse target alone will require growing an additional 50,000 tonnes of capacity in the area of reuse by 2030. I have no doubt the Department will have outlined European measures earlier. In the longer term, these will drive more sustainable consumption and eco-design for circularity in consumer durables. We support these policy and economic measures through our work in the European reuse network and the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform, locally through Community Resources Network Ireland and through our research and advocacy work.

In the near term, a number of key additional financial and policy measures will be required. The low cost of new goods is one major barrier to the circular economy and distorts the market against reuse and repair. Financial incentives in support of reuse and repair must be explored fully and could include commercial rates measures, tax benefits, a reduced rate of VAT, repair bonuses or support schemes such as we have seen in Austria, Germany and France. We should also review how existing support schemes like the bike-to-work scheme could encourage the consumption of second-hand goods.

Furthermore, the new green product procurement strategy and roadmap is a positive step towards supporting large-scale circular procurement. It was very encouraging to see the news yesterday regarding the new framework for the procurement of up to 60,000 refurbished or second-hand laptops. However, there remain significant opportunities to support circularity, reuse and repair for consumer durables at the smaller scale, below the €50,000 threshold. As an example, Fingal County Council tendered for reused paint with the Rediscovery Centre. This facilitates the use of remixed paint from local civic amenity sites in community settings. This serves as an excellent template for other local authorities throughout the country. We are supporting this through the paint reuse network.

In addition, it is crucial that all new legislative and policy measures are carefully assessed to ensure they support and enable the circular economy and the existing reuse and repair sector. For example, producer responsibility schemes in Ireland have historically supported recycling as a priority over reuse and repair. We have seen the emergence of new schemes in other member states, in particular for textiles, disrupting the thriving reuse sector and recommend caution in exploring any such schemes for Ireland.

Another important measure is the community services programme, which has enabled social enterprises in the circular economy to build capacity in reuse and repair.

Further extension of this scheme for such work would support growth in this area.

Finally, Ireland needs to invest in prevention, reuse and repair infrastructure and systems as a priority over waste infrastructure. To meet new targets we need to see significant investment in infrastructure and systems. Numerous studies have shown the type of investment required ranging from sorting infrastructure and warehousing, collection systems, door-to-door repair services, and so on. For example, findings from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Green Enterprise study on circular textiles led by the Community Reuse Network Ireland, CRNI, in partnership with the Clean Technology Centre, CTC, and the Rediscovery Centre, identified a lack of back-end infrastructure and systems, including handling, sorting and storage capacity, as key barriers to the reuse of textiles.

Our EPA research on paint identified the need for reuse infrastructure also to divert water-based paint from hazardous waste incineration and provided a blueprint to support interested organisations to set up paint reuse schemes around the country, leading to the development of the Paint Reuse Network by the

Rediscovery Centre, which is funded by the regional waste management planning offices. This now supports eight paint reuse social enterprises servicing 25 civic amenity sites across the country and has reused 65 tonnes of paint since 2021.

This demonstrates the importance of research, pioneering and networks in supporting growth and the potential to grow reuse at civic amenity sites, building on the national waste plan target to introduce reuse facilities at ten such sites.

Overall, we believe it is time for reuse and repair infrastructure and systems to be prioritised as being of national importance ahead of other recycling waste investments.

In summary, we have an ambitious policy framework now in Ireland for growth in prevention, reuse and repair of consumer durables. We now need to find ways to support this through communications, citizen engagement and enabling environment and investment in infrastructure and systems. I thank the committee very much for this opportunity to present our work and our ambition for the circular economy in the context of consumer durables.