Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I thank the committee for inviting me to address it. This is my first time before the agriculture committee. I am the Minister of State with responsibility for the circular economy, so agriculture is not my specific area of expertise, but I will do my best to answer all of the questions from members. If I cannot, I will revert to them with answers.

One of my Department’s functions in respect of waste management is to set the policy and legislative framework for the extended producer responsibility, EPR, model in Ireland across the various waste streams. Ireland uses the EPR model for dealing with a number of waste streams, including farm plastics, packaging, end-of-life vehicles, electrical equipment, tyres and batteries. These schemes have been developed based on the producer pays principle. To date, they have operated successfully and have enabled Ireland to reach our domestic and EU recycling targets. My Department is not responsible for and has no role in the operational and day-to-day matters of any of these schemes.

Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe to have introduced legislation specifically designed to promote farm plastics recycling. This legislation is critical, as it places a legal responsibility on producers of farm film products to specifically support recycling. The options open to producers placing farm film products on the Irish market are to either become directly involved in the recycling of farm plastics waste with their customers by operating a deposit and return scheme or to participate in the Government-approved farm plastics recycling scheme.

The primary role of the Department in respect of farm plastics matters is to provide the legislative framework. Under the legislation, the Irish Farm Film Producers Group, IFFPG, operates further to an approval granted by the Department as the national farm plastics recycling scheme and has been doing so 1998.

The company is a not-for-profit body, which is owned by its members and the Irish Farmers Association.

Under the approved scheme, producers pay an environmental protection levy to IFFPG based on the quantity of product they place on the market. The environmental levy applies to all products based on the Irish market. The levy, along with a collection fee set by IFFPG, is used to fund and provide for the collection, transportation and treatment of farm film plastic. My Department is not responsible for and has no role in the operational and day-to-day matters of IFFPG, which include details regarding the levy and collection scheme.

The role of the Department is in oversight of discharge by IFFPG of the terms of its approval. IFFPG has performed very well in the context of its record of collection and recycling of farm plastics, at approximately 90%. Its target, which was set under the approval, is 70%. However, there are challenges facing the sector. The costs for recycling are currently high. This is due to the closure of the Chinese market to plastics, the war in Ukraine, which drove an increase in costs by 18%, and by lower-than-expected sales compared with collections arising from weather and cost issues being faced by the agricultural sector. The Department is supportive of the IFFPG goal of ensuring a full service to farmers this year and is supportive of the scheme’s contribution to environmental management of farm plastics.