Ms Bernie Kiely:

There are two elements. One is that it is open to any set of producers to set up a compliance scheme. If a group of plastic producers want to get together and set up a compliance scheme in the morning, they can, under the regulations, make an application to the Minister. We will assess their case and the business plan they have put together. If it stacks up, they will then be entitled to have an approval. There could be two schemes running. It is like that in the waste electronics and electrical waste stream where two schemes are running, it could be said, in competition with each other. That is there.

What has transpired is there is one scheme only in that the producers have come together and collaborated in this way, so the vast bulk of the market is there in one scheme providing a very stable environment for farmers to return and recycle their plastics. If we take the approval in place for the IFFPG, which has been there for five years and will expire in 2025, there is a facility to have that renewed under the regulations. The regulations set down exactly the kind of scrutiny that will be involved in renewing that, if that is what the producers go for. It is open to the IFFPG not to apply for a renewal but if it does, the procedure is laid down in our regulations showing exactly what it is we need to do to assess its performance and its capacity to continue to deliver. It is not a box-ticking exercise by any manner of means. It is an open and transparent process, as I said, because it is laid down in the scheme's existing compliance terms and conditions, including the recycling rates it is achieving. There is good transparency with the scheme and its performance can be judged according to the track record pretty readily.