Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly. We have a serious problem with waste tyres in Ireland and elements within the tyre industry will not face up to that problem. They do not accept producer responsibility and they do not accept the polluter pays principle. Prior to the adoption of the current 2007 tyre regulations, my Department made it very clear that this was the last opportunity for the tyre industry to embrace environmental compliance and take responsibility for the waste it produces. The industry was informed that if the required improvement did not happen, the system introduced under the 2007 regulations would be reviewed and if necessary replaced by a full producer responsibility initiative, PRI, model.

The required improvement did not happen. A report on tyres and waste tyres published by my Department in November 2013 found a non-compliance rate with the tyre regulations of 46%, a lack of consistent and accurate data on tyres, the system was not tracking data flows well and between 25% and 50% of waste tyres were not accounted for, with many illegally dumped. In summary, this system, which has resulted in between 15 million and 30 million tyres being dumped illegally around our country, is failing to provide a proper waste management system for tyres and cannot be allowed to continue.

Following extensive discussions with the tyre industry, through the establishment of a tyres working group, the Minister, Deputy Kelly, announced the decision to establish a full PRI scheme for tyres and waste tyres on 30 January last. The new scheme will be operated by Repak, which has a wealth of experience, systems, knowledge and leadership in the area of environmental compliance, allied to a successful track record in target achievement. It is highly unlikely that any other organisation could offer the same range of benefits that Repak offers and be operational in the space of time that is required. Working alongside Repak will be the WEEE Register Society, which has a similarly successful track record in the area of registration and reporting of producers. Since the decision earlier this year, significant progress has been made in discussions with the tyre industry. However, we have had to overcome an ongoing campaign of misinformation from some quarters, the main purpose of which appears to be to confuse the sector regarding the impact of these new structures.

There is nothing unusual about the designation of a single compliance scheme for a particular waste stream. Indeed, the PRI review examined this aspect and concluded that it was unlikely that licensing more producer responsibility organisations with a national remit would lead to better outcomes in terms of cost. For example, we have only one organisation operating the producer responsibility scheme for farm plastics in Ireland, IFFPG, and Repak is the only compliance scheme for packaging waste. Prior to the establishment of Repak ELT on 1 November, there was only one tyres compliance scheme in Ireland, just as there is only one tyre compliance scheme in the majority of EU member states. The suggestion that some sinister new monopoly is being established does not stand up to scrutiny. What is happening is we are trying to maximise efficiency by utilising expertise that exists in Ireland while learning from successful examples from other member states, an approach which we are confident will deliver, in an economically efficient way, the significant improvement in environmental outcomes required.

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