Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to join with those who have acknowledged the work of various Members of both Houses in introducing this legislation. I also wish to acknowledge the work of various environmental groups, including tidy towns organisations and green schools. School children, both at primary and secondary level, are acutely aware of difficulties arising from pollution.

The environmentalist, Robert Swan OBE, said the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it. I personally do not care who that someone is, once we in this Parliament give a lead in dealing with the wider issues of pollution, which are of great concern to me and all other Members of this House.

There are five main ocean geysers created by a large whirlpool caused by currents with plastic floating in them. This is caused by the rotation of the earth known as the Coriolis effect. One such, the North Atlantic garbage patch, is estimated to cover hundreds of kilometres with over 200,000 pieces per square kilometre. This debris zone alone among the five, shifts as much as 1,600 km seasonally. This has been known since 1972.

If we compare the earth’s 45 billion year evolution in a 24-hour timeline, we will see that dinosaurs made their appearance at 10.56 p.m., mammals at 11.39 p.m. and humans at 11.58 p.m. That is two minutes to midnight and in that short period of mankind’s arrival and custodianship of the earth we have turned the planet into a rubbish tip.

Microbeads were once a must-have ingredient in the pursuit of flawless skin and cleaner surfaces, but have now become a scourge of the environment and are hated by all who care for our planet. The US, Canada and the Netherlands have banned them from cosmetics because of their potential impact on the environment, and the UK is preparing to ban them from the end of this year.

A detailed report published by the House of Commons library has warned that any attempt to impose a unilateral ban could break EU free trade laws. The Minister referred to that earlier. It also advises that the proposed legislation could be open to legal challenge by cosmetics companies affected by the ban. However, a large proportion of cosmetic companies are thankfully already switching to natural alternatives. By legislating to ban micro-plastics, more cosmetic and cleaning product manufacturers will hopefully cease to use them.

According to the Ocean Clean-up Project, over 5 trillion pieces of plastic currently litter the ocean. A total of 4,360 tonnes of micro-plastic beads were used in 2012 across all European Union countries, plus Norway and Switzerland, according to a survey by Cosmetics Europe. The survey focused on the use of micro-plastic beads, with polyethylene beads representing 93% of the total amount equalling 4,037 tonnes.

Plastic ingredients that are poured down the drain after use, cannot be collected for recycling - unlike the packaging which can be recycled. Plastic ingredients do not decompose in wastewater treatment systems. The ingredients are emitted via raw sewage, treated effluents or with sewage sludge applied as fertiliser biosolids on agricultural land, as landfill or dumped at sea.

This plastic pollution is having a major detrimental effect on marine life, as others have said. Micro-plastics are of huge environmental concern because their size means that they are accessible to a wide range of organisms, including seabirds, fish, mussels, lugworms and zooplankton.

Micro-plastic pollution has been a big issue for many years in the marine research field. Recent scientific investigations in Europe have also revealed the presence of micro-plastic residues in freshwater systems, including drinking water and wastewater treatment.

The issue of micro-plastics in cosmetics is also coming up on the environmental agenda right across the world. It needs to be dealt with. Micro-plastic particles which are found in personal care products, such as exfoliants or cleansers, are reaching the marine environment via wastewater from consumers' baths and showers at a rapid rate.

As Deputy Dooley said, Fianna Fáil wholeheartedly supports the principle of this Bill. Like the Minister, however, we believe it is too narrow and fails to address the issue of plastic microbeads in household cleaning products, as well as other plastic produce such as disposable tableware. We will be introducing our own legislation which will be more comprehensive in its approach to eliminating plastic pollution.

The rectification of the anomalies highlighted by the Minister and previous speakers should be speedily facilitated.

Other important sources of plastic pollution must also be addressed, including single use tableware. France is leading the way in legislating to stop plastic pollution by introducing a complete ban on disposable plastic dishes, plates and cutlery. While I realise it would not be possible in one Bill to address all forms of plastic pollution, this legislation does not go far enough. The Bill must address other plastic products which break down over time in our oceans and inland waters forming micro-plastics. Much of the litter found in the ocean is from larger plastics eroding to form micro-plastics. The legislation planned by Fianna Fáil will address these issues. We hope to give the Minister power to ban single use tableware and fast food plastic eating containers. These products are too often found littering our streets and countryside and are the scourge of Tidy Towns groups which are making valiant efforts to keep communities clean. As someone who is involved in this area, I note that tinfoil and similar products also cause problems in the environment. Brown Thomas and Arnotts stopped selling products containing micro-plastic beads in August last year and many local shops in towns and villages, encouraged by Tidy Towns organisations, are starting to use biodegradable alternatives.

While the European Union is also examining this issue, we must move swiftly by introducing legislation and leading by example, as previous speakers noted. We need to get serious about cleaning up our wastewater systems and setting cleaner, environmentally sound standards. A single shower by a person using a product containing microbeads can result in more than 100,000 of these beads entering the wastewater system.

The Dutch have created an app, Beat the Microbead, to combat plastic microbeads. The aim is to achieve grassroots change via the consumer. Launched in 2012, the app is now backed by the United Nations environment programme and is available in seven languages. It enables the consumer to scan a product's barcode to check whether it contains microbeads. The app has proved very popular, convincing a number of large multinationals such as Unilever, Johnson & Johnson and the Body Shop to announce their intent to stop using microbeads. It can be downloaded free of charge and I urge those with a keen interest in this issue to use it.

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