Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Hourigan for her question. The policy document, A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, which was published in 2020 commits to substantially reducing waste from packaging and single-use plastic items over its five-year lifetime. Steps include a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and aluminium cans; the introduction of a levy on disposable coffee cups and other measures to encourage the use of reusable cups before an eventual ban on disposable cups altogether; supports to increase the use of recycled materials in packaging; and measures to significantly reduce single-use plastic items such as non-medical wet wipes, hotel toiletries and packaged condiments. This builds on the measures already taken since the transposition of the EU's single-use plastics directive in July last year.

The Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022 includes powers to introduce new environmental levies on single-use items. These levies will work in a similar way to the plastic bag levy, with the proceeds ring fenced in a circular economy fund for projects relating to environmental objectives. The various levies will be introduced incrementally, with the initial focus on the introduction of levies on disposable hot drinks cups this year. The objective of the new levies is not to raise revenue. Indeed, the aim of introducing them is to encourage the use of reusable alternatives in order that the consumer never incurs the levy in the first place. To support this development and to further reduce any costs associated with the levy on consumers and businesses, I intend to specifically target a portion of the income from the new environmental levies towards projects and schemes that will increase the availability of reusable products and packaging.

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