Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ultimately, what we are trying to achieve in principle is to encourage a reduction in the amount of material that ends up in landfill and to do so in a way that changes the behaviour of citizens. That can be done if we do not provide them with the material to create unnecessary waste which is having a detrimental impact on the environment.

To some extent, I can handle the notion of more material going back, as Repak would put it, into a recoverable environment where it would be used as low-grade fuel or ultimately end up in landfill, but we must move away from it. However, the biggest curse in the proliferation of paper cups is the casual approach to their disposal. If some of my Kerry colleagues were present, they would know about the survey carried out there in conjunction with the local authority. Paper cups represented 30% of the total waste material taken from a specific area that had undergone an intensive clean-up programme and it included other forms of disposable waste. There is an encumbrance on us to do something significant and the Bill before the House has the potential to start the debate. We have a little work to do before we nail down the final detail of the Bill that will ultimately go to the Áras an Uachtaráin for signing but with the willingness of all sides and an input from all sides we can achieve considerable success.

Fianna Fáil supports the efforts to encourage recycling and waste reduction. While in government, it introduced Repak, a not-for-profit company which supports recycling. Between 1997 and 2011, rates of recycling in Ireland increased from 15% to 66%, more than a fourfold increase, one which this and the previous Government failed to match. I accept, however, that as one gets closer to 100%, it is harder to make progress.

Fianna Fáil also made Ireland the first country to impose a levy on plastic bags, a policy which has been emulated around the globe and that has kept millions of plastic bags out of hedgerows, oceans, landfills and green areas. We support the main message of the Bill, that we take further steps to minimise the amount of waste Ireland produces and maximise our recycling rates. However, the Bill is scant on detail of how the policy proposals should be implemented, as well as the role to be played by various stakeholders. Several key stakeholders have raised potential issues with the Bill and we believe further consultation with stakeholders is needed in order to design a system that will be fair, workable and effective.

When I spoke to Deputy Eamon Ryan last week about his desire to get the Bill through the House, he was very much of the view that we should engage and clear that the work should be done by the Oireachtas committee. To that end, we are supporting the Bill on Second Stage and will work constructively with our colleagues to improve and build on the Bill in the interests of creating an island that will appreciate the environment and seek to protect it from the harmful littering that has become such a key part of our way of life.

The Bill, brought forward in a joint effort by Labour Party and the Green Party, has two aims. First, it seeks to make the sale or free distribution of single-use tableware such as cups, plates and glasses, among other items, that cannot be composted in a domestic composting facility illegal by 2020. We will have to look at the date proposed for some products, but that will be a matter for the committee to address. Paper cups are the headline item coming from the debate, but I also draw attention to the behaviour of so many people when they leave fast food outlets, particularly in rural areas. They get into their car and eat their chips or other food item on the way home. The plastic bottle is then thrown out, as are the paper cup and the plastic container for the chips. The polystyrene burger box is also thrown out. Like a number of others in the House, I like to walk when I get a chance and I also jog, badly every now and again, but in doing so, particularly in the winter months when the foliage has died away and the ditches are more visible, it is absolutely appalling to see the amount of waste, even in some beauty spots. I am familiar with towns and villages that have won awards for being tidy and applaud the great work done by the Tidy Towns committees within their curtilage. They have done a wonderful job in maintaining the cleanliness and beauty of their area and invested in flowers and other greenery, but when move goes beyond the border and walks on roads a couple of miles out from the town or village, it is mindboggling to see the way so many citizens treat the natural landscape and our beauty spots.

It does not take a lot to change that behaviour; to encourage people to keep material in their car until they get home and dispose of it appropriately and in an environmentally friendly way. If a small percentage changed their behaviour, it would make such a huge difference to the countryside. We wholeheartedly support the desire to minimise the overall amount of waste that ends up in landfill. While there are no exact figures for paper cups in Ireland, I extrapolated from comparable population statistics a total of 200 million paper cups. I am interested to hear that the figure is almost four times that number. That gives some sense of the enormity of the challenge we face in changing behaviour. One of the positives is the scale of the usage of these products. It should be possible for the industry to make that change and shift.

Given the material involved in making single use tableware, the vast majority of it is non-recyclable. This means that after one use, the cup or plate is either tossed into landfill or burned as a form of low-grade fuel. In short, it is far from ideal from an environmental perspective. I am taken by the numbers produced by Repak, which refer to the amount that is either recycled or recovered. Recovered waste goes on to be used as a low-grade fuel. We need to be moving away from that. Waste should be recycled or not included in the mix in the first instance. We recognise that recycling can also only go so far and that it needs to be complemented by measures to simply cut down on the amount of waste that we produce on a daily basis.

Indeed, this was part of the reason Fianna Fáil introduced a levy on plastic bags in 2002. That policy change has drastically reduced the number of plastic bags consumed in Ireland from about 328 bags per capitato just 21. That is an enormous shift in behaviour which can be emulated with the products I have talked about. We need to find and support initiatives that cut down on unnecessary packaging and reduce waste. For example, the Government should be working with suppliers and retailers to minimise the amount of packaging that goods come in. We should also incentivise behaviour change, whereby people are rewarded for using reusable cups. I do appreciate that the Minister provided us with reusable cups previously. I just wonder how many of us still have them. I have mine but I am not sure I always use it when I visit Topaz on my way home late on a Thursday night, to get coffee to try to remain awake.

Fianna Fáil also supports the creation of a waste reduction task force, which would be responsible for identifying ways to incentivise waste reduction in the public and private sectors. This will also benefit the consumer, who will not be responsible for disposing of huge amounts of unneeded packaging. Those of us who have become a little more conscious of the impact of the materials we put back into our recycling system or into our black bin have come to realise that even where one makes a concerted effort to recycle material or dispose of it appropriately, there is too much packaging associated with the products we consume. Much of this is associated with marketing techniques. We have to work to reduce this. I am always struck when I see someone with a new iPhone or similar small piece of kit or technology by the amount of packaging that is presented to give a small item a perceived large value.

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