Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I am getting to that. We have not implemented the levy yet. We had a public consultation on it and the results of that were published. There is clearly big public support for it. In order to collect the levy, I need to some entity to agree to be the collection agent for it. I have been persuaded by the Revenue Commissioners to change the approach I was taking to that but it is going to take a little time to implement. We have been delayed a little bit in introducing this but in the meantime, I notice that people are jumping the gun in a way that I am very happy about. I am sure committee members have heard about Killarney, where 50 businesses got together and decided they were going to do without disposable cups all together and provide people with a reusable, washable alternative. I went down to Killarney to see how that was working because I thought it would be a useful test bed. I wanted to see how that scheme was operating, whether there were any drawbacks and to find out why those businesses that were not taking part had opted out. A total of 50 outlets selling coffee in the town got together and agreed on this. They estimated that between them they were using 1 million cups per year. Those cups and lids were ending up in Killlarney National Park and actually damaging their tourism product. The businesses involved are saving hundreds of thousands of euro per year on cups, and generally this is going very well for them. They have not managed to get the large coffee multiples or the petrol stations to join in. They are the outliers but otherwise the project is working very well. As soon as I can implement the levy, I will do so. In the meantime, however, I am happy to see this happening organically around the country. Other towns are eager to copy the success of Killarney.

The Deputy also asked about what can be done with an old lawnmower. In general, this is metal scrap waste and civic amenity sites should accept it. If anyone has a question about how to scrap a particular product, there is a website called mywaste.ie. One types in the name of the item and it tells one where that item should go. That website is run by one of the regional waste authorities. It is what I use to answer those types of questions. I get asked questions all the time about where to put such-and-such a product.

The Deputy also asked about the use of single-use plastic in supermarkets. As I said, we have been analysing the French approach on this. The French have said that plastic cannot be used on hard vegetables like marrows, cucumbers and so on. They have a plan to move more and more towards softer vegetables, ending up in a couple of year's time with a situation where plastic cannot be put on soft fruits like strawberries and raspberries. We want to see if this is something we can replicate. We also want to see if it has any negative effects in terms of food waste or the use of substitute wrappings that might be harmful. We are looking at that. I am glad to see that a number of the multiples are now offering a special bin at the back of the tills. One can strip the plastic from products and throw it in there. My local supermarket manager has told me that there is far more plastic being used now than was used a couple of decades ago. It really seems excessive. One sees almost all fruit wrapped in plastic. It really is shocking and it has to stop.