Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The charges applied by waste management companies are a matter for those companies and their customers, subject to compliance with the applicable contract, consumer and environmental legislation. Matters relating to consumer legislation fall under the remit of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

My Department is undertaking a review of pricing structures for household waste collection. This includes the roll-out of pay-by-kilogramme charges which were scheduled during the summer of 2016. The review is also looking at the possible future pricing structures to incentivise the prevention and segregation of household waste. The review will consider more than one form of incentivised pricing structure. This approach will facilitate the service providers in offering all households a range of options to manage and control their waste costs. As with any new initiative, clear and effective communication with households is critical, and it is my intention that a comprehensive awareness and education campaign be rolled out in advance of the introduction of any potential new incentivised pricing system.

All sectors, including businesses, farming and households, need to engage positively in the move towards a resource efficient world. A throwaway culture is no longer sustainable. We will all need to change the way we work, travel, heat our homes, produce our goods and services, prepare our food and dispose of our waste.

Incentivised pricing for domestic waste aims to encourage householders to prevent, reduce and segregate their waste to reduce our impact on the environment and our reliance on landfill waste disposal. Encouraging householders to reduce and recycle waste will be an important initiative in terms of helping to address the landfill capacity emergencies which occurred in 2016 as well as meeting our targets and obligations under current and future EU legislation.

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