Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to thank Deputy O’Rourke for raising this important matter, as I welcome the opportunity to respond to media reports claiming that some waste collection providers may increase household-waste collection charges as a result of the introduction of the deposit return scheme, DRS. The introduction of the DRS for plastic bottles and aluminium cans is a positive consumer-behaviour initiative, similar to the plastic bags initiative, or the ban on harmful cigarette smoke in our workplaces. It does two vital things; it reduces litter and combats the scourge of single-use plastics on the environment. These bottles and cans are a high-volume component of litter. A report commissioned by the Department in 2020, showed that cans and single-use plastics accounted for 675 tonnes of litter per year. The report also indicated that a suitable scheme could reduce the littering of these containers by 95%.

The scheme is going well and we now see return rates regularly exceeding 3 million and cans - I did not know there were that many, but there you go. The scheme has been accepted and over time, I believe it will make a difference to our overall environmental performance. The Government does not believe it would be fair if this success results in the waste collection industry raising the prices of household-waste collection and the Government does not accept that such price raises are inevitable, or merited at this time. There is no reason our current system of kerbside collection cannot work successfully alongside the DRS.

Waste collection charges are affected by many things, including staff, fuel costs, gate fees and commodities prices. While the Government has no role in relation to price setting, there is a need for greater transparency by waste collection providers on pricing for householders and businesses. We need transparency and we need fairness and I note the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, is considering regulatory options for greater transparency around charging, if all waste collectors are not prepared to do this voluntarily, by publishing comprehensive details of their pricing structures on their websites for the information of householders.

The Minister of State and the Department are engaging with the Irish Waste Management Association, IWMA, and other stakeholders to conduct an evidence-based process to quantify what substantive impact, if any, the introduction of the DRS may have on the waste collection system in Ireland over the longer term. This process must be allowed to reach a conclusion. The Department is awaiting detailed data from the waste collection industry to support its position.

I will move on to a more general discussion of household waste collection charges. Private waste collectors operate under a waste collection permit issued by the National Waste Collection Permit Office, NWCPO. These permits include a requirement that waste collection charging systems should incentivise customers to segregate their waste. Therefore, the fees charged for the collection of general residual waste should be higher than the fees charged for the collection of the brown food bin or mixed dry recyclables bin. The terms and conditions of individual waste-collection contracts are matters between the waste collection companies and their customers, subject to compliance with the terms of their NWCPO permit.

With the support of the Department, the NWCPO has engaged a research consultancy to carry out a study on incentivised charging for waste collection. This study, to be completed before the end of 2024, will inform options for providing greater clarity to households and businesses around costs and charging.

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