Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 15 May 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Recycling Farm Plastics: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Tim LombardTim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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We fully agree on that. The question is regarding how much of it is sitting there. The Minister of State has gone through the issues that have arisen with the Chinese authorities and the war. These are really serious issues. We are genuinely concerned that there could be stockpiles out there that have not been recycled. We know the collection rates are approximately 90%. They should be higher and we all know that. We have no indication of the amount that is actually being recycled, however. I ask for the Department to revert with the figure for how much has not been recycled. If the Department could provide that figure, it would give great ease to this committee. Our fear is that there may be stockpiles of plastic towards which the farmer will have paid twice, because they pay to have it collected and bought, yet it may not have gone through the recycling system itself.