Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Naughten, who is unable to be here. He asked me to reply on his behalf.

Three regional waste management plans made by the local authority sector in May 2015 for the period from 2015 to 2021 highlighted the need for an additional 300,000 tonnes of thermal treatment capacity for residual municipal waste in the State. The plans, which are available to download at , articulate that the additional need is determined by analysing future projections and is based on a number of assumptions as set out in the plans.

In accordance with the provisions of the Waste Management Act 1996, the preparation and adoption of a waste management plan, including in respect of infrastructure provision, is the statutory responsibility of the local authority or authorities concerned, and under section 60(3) the Minister is precluded from exercising any power or control in the performance by a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in it.

The role of the Minister in waste management is to provide a comprehensive legislative and policy framework through which the relevant regulatory bodies, such as local authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency, operate. Government waste policy is set out in A Resource Opportunity - Waste Management Policy in Ireland. That policy is predicated on the waste hierarchy, whereby the prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling and recovery of waste is preferred to the disposal of waste.

Thermal recovery activities, where the principal use of waste is as a fuel to generate energy, sit on the recovery tier of the waste hierarchy and have a role to play in reducing our dependence on disposing waste to landfill. The State has made huge progress in this regard. Landfill of municipal solid waste has decreased from 92% in 1995 to 41% in 2012. This also reflects the increase in recycling and recovery of municipal solid waste from 8% in 1951 to 59% in 2012, the first year that the percentage tonnage of municipal waste managed for recovery at 59% exceeded the percentage tonnage managed for disposal at 41%.

The EPA's State of the Environment Report 2016 highlights that the most significant change in residual waste treatment since 2012 has been the shift from disposal to landfill, to energy recovery. The report notes that the export of waste for energy recovery has increased significantly in recent years and, though this has moved the treatment of waste up the waste hierarchy and away from landfill, it has also left Ireland vulnerable in terms of our reliance on waste export markets and the loss of jobs and energy in the material we export.

Those concerns were highlighted by the lack of capacity to manage municipal waste adequately in 2016 which ultimately resulted in the temporary emergency use of landfill. We need to build on our recent achievements and, in line with Government policy, continue to strive to prevent and recycle waste to the greatest extent possible. The recovery of waste also has a part to play in minimising the impact on the environment and assisting in meeting targets and obligations under current and future EU legislation. We all wish to avoid a repeat of the scenario from the 1990s, whereby practically every county in the State had an operating landfill. Burying waste in the ground is not only detrimental to the environment in terms of managing the resultant leachate and greenhouse gas emissions but also detrimental to the creation of jobs and energy through the development of recycling and recovery processes.

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