Dáil debates

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Waste Reduction Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

10:15 pm

Photo of Danny Healy-RaeDanny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The amount of waste and rubbish, especially bottles, seems to be multiplying all the time. In different times, there was a charge on bottles. In pubs or anywhere else, when someone took a bottle away and then brought it back, one got back whatever they had been charged for it. Publicans were sub-charged for bottles and if they did not return them, they had to pay the bill which was very costly. Bottles were sterilised and reused, but no one can tell me that it is cheaper to break and take bottles away and manufacture them again rather than simply reuse them. I cannot understand it and it did not make sense to stop that system. Bottles by the bin are sent all the time to be recycled at a high cost, which causes trouble. As the customer does not get his or her money back, he or she so has no interest in bringing bottles back.

The use of plastic bottles could be reduced if more companies were to start using glass bottles again. Supermarkets provide a great facility to have a cup of tea or coffee, but all of the cups seem to be thrown away. If long distance drivers or others on the roads all the time were educated or encouraged to use a flask-type cup and have it refilled in a supermarket - at a cost, of course - it would eliminate the need to use many of the paper cups which are thrown away.

On the greater problem, there is a need for everyone to review the possibility of reusing some of the waste that goes into the bin. It is a shame that food is dumped. Long ago people would have fed pigs and had meat of their own. There are many starving children in Third World countries who would be very grateful to receive food that is only days out of date.

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