Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil supports the principles of this Bill. We have consistently been and remain a firm defender of Ireland's natural environment. We support the main message of the Bill, which is to take further steps to minimise the amount of waste that Ireland produces and maximise our recycling rates. We need to find and support initiatives that cut down on unnecessary packaging and reduce waste. This Bill has two goals in respect of matters which are causing huge issues with rubbish tipped all over the countryside. First, it seeks to make the sale or free distribution of non-compostable single use tableware illegal by 2020. The number of disposable coffee cups used every day is staggering. It is part of a new generation whose members are seen with a disposable coffee cup in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. The majority of roadside waste is made up of these cups along with fast food takeaway wrappings, drink cans etc. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these disposable cups cannot be recycled as they are coated with plastic.

Second, the Bill seeks to create a deposit and refund scheme for drinks containers, plastic and glass bottles, whereby customers will pay a small deposit on each drink, which they receive back when the bottle is returned to a bottle bank. As Deputy Ryan said, it brings me back to my childhood, when my mother used to put the glass milk bottles outside the door. The next morning, I used to think it was the milk fairy. The bottles were magically full. I can still see the sign in my local shop clearly: "no bottles, no milk." If we did not have an empty bottle the shopkeeper would not give us the milk, or else we had to pay a charge. We certainly were ahead of ourselves when it came to re-using. Back in the 1960s and 1970s we were certainly re-using the bottles. I suppose it is a principle we all were guilty of losing when convenience took over.

As Deputy Dooley said, in 1997 Fianna Fáil set up Repak, an organisation of Irish businesses that support recycling. Our rates have increased dramatically but we can and should do better. Fianna Fáil supports the principles of the Bill wholeheartedly and indeed we were to the fore when we introduced the plastic bag levy, a policy which is emulated throughout the world and has reduced the dumping of millions of plastic bags on hedgerows and in oceans, landfills and wooded areas. We will support the Bill and will work constructively with our colleagues to improve and build upon the Bill in the interest of creating a different Ireland, that we can pass on with pride to the next generation.

Speaking about the next generation, education is key. Green Schools is Ireland’s leading environmental management and education programme for schools. Promoting long-term, whole-school action for the environment, Green Schools is a student-led programme with involvement from the wider community. The work of the students in collaboration with teachers, parents, and local authorities is second to none. Children learn the principles of reducing, reusing and recycling, and caring for the environment. These children can teach us all a thing or two and the habits they learn will stay with them for a lifetime.

The Government needs to start working with suppliers and retailers to minimise the amount of packaging that goods come in. We need to incentivise waste reduction in a way which will benefit the consumer, who should not be responsible for disposing of huge amounts of unneeded packaging.

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