Dáil debates

Thursday, 26 November 2015

Topical Issue Debate

Waste Management Regulations

5:35 pm

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak about this important issue again. I have raised it previously in recent months. Despite my repeated efforts to clear up this matter by means of written parliamentary questions, some serious questions still remain unanswered. Since I last highlighted this issue on the floor of the Dáil, both of the representative bodies that had been engaged in the negotiations with the Department have pulled out of those negotiations.

At the outset, I want to clear up some of the misinformation that is out there. It has been suggested that this proposal has been made on foot of an EU directive. That is simply not true because it is the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government's own idea. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, and some of his Cabinet colleagues, along with officials from the Department, have said that illegal dumping has reached epidemic proportions, but the Environmental Protection Agency has said that the figures are negligible. In 2013, the CSO said that 96% of tyres sold in this country could be accounted for.

Nobody condones the illegal dumping of tyres, just as nobody condones anything that would go against the environment. The representative bodies will acknowledge that the existing scheme needs improvement. I suggest that this seems to stem from a lack of enforcement of the current legislation. There is no sanction in place for non-compliance.

Under the new self-compliance scheme, tyre wholesalers and retailers are required to dispose of waste tyres. The current cost of that, approximately €1, is not being passed on to the consumer. Under the new full producer responsibility initiative scheme, the Repak and WEEE group will be appointed to act as monopoly collectors and recyclers for the entire tyre industry across the board.

This will cost in the region of €3 per car, a trebling of the cost, and up to €15 per truck or €20 for an agrityre. The proposed scheme will fuel evasion and there will be a surge in black market activity. It will send all buyers of truck and tractor tyres across the Border to Northern Ireland and the UK where they can save themselves in the region of €100 for a single set of new tyres. It will give external sellers a huge unfair advantage over domestic sellers.

I will ask a couple of direct questions. The Minister, Deputy Kelly, claims he is formalising an existing charge with a new tyre levy but would he agree that the existing waste tyre disposal charge is only 80 cent plus VAT, as confirmed by Repak in a presentation to members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party? The Minister continuously refers to tyre stockpiles across the country but, according to the EPA figures, the five largest stockpiles since 2007 were on the sites of licensed waste collectors. Will he acknowledge that fact?

The entire tyre industry has withdrawn from this process. Does this not tell the Minister and his Department that the proposed scheme is seriously flawed? Is it not time to bring the dealers and their representative bodies back for meaningful talks? Will the Minister acknowledge the figures produced by the independent tyre wholesalers and retailers association that as many as 1,000 jobs could be lost across the country if he insists on bulldozing through the flawed scheme?

Would the Minister agree that the process of appointing Repak to administer this scheme was flawed as it did not go out to public tender, as it should have? Is he aware that senior figures have recently been appointed to Repak who had previously been involved in negotiations representing part of the tyre industry?

5:45 pm

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly. We have a serious problem with waste tyres in Ireland and elements within the tyre industry will not face up to that problem. They do not accept producer responsibility and they do not accept the polluter pays principle. Prior to the adoption of the current 2007 tyre regulations, my Department made it very clear that this was the last opportunity for the tyre industry to embrace environmental compliance and take responsibility for the waste it produces. The industry was informed that if the required improvement did not happen, the system introduced under the 2007 regulations would be reviewed and if necessary replaced by a full producer responsibility initiative, PRI, model.

The required improvement did not happen. A report on tyres and waste tyres published by my Department in November 2013 found a non-compliance rate with the tyre regulations of 46%, a lack of consistent and accurate data on tyres, the system was not tracking data flows well and between 25% and 50% of waste tyres were not accounted for, with many illegally dumped. In summary, this system, which has resulted in between 15 million and 30 million tyres being dumped illegally around our country, is failing to provide a proper waste management system for tyres and cannot be allowed to continue.

Following extensive discussions with the tyre industry, through the establishment of a tyres working group, the Minister, Deputy Kelly, announced the decision to establish a full PRI scheme for tyres and waste tyres on 30 January last. The new scheme will be operated by Repak, which has a wealth of experience, systems, knowledge and leadership in the area of environmental compliance, allied to a successful track record in target achievement. It is highly unlikely that any other organisation could offer the same range of benefits that Repak offers and be operational in the space of time that is required. Working alongside Repak will be the WEEE Register Society, which has a similarly successful track record in the area of registration and reporting of producers. Since the decision earlier this year, significant progress has been made in discussions with the tyre industry. However, we have had to overcome an ongoing campaign of misinformation from some quarters, the main purpose of which appears to be to confuse the sector regarding the impact of these new structures.

There is nothing unusual about the designation of a single compliance scheme for a particular waste stream. Indeed, the PRI review examined this aspect and concluded that it was unlikely that licensing more producer responsibility organisations with a national remit would lead to better outcomes in terms of cost. For example, we have only one organisation operating the producer responsibility scheme for farm plastics in Ireland, IFFPG, and Repak is the only compliance scheme for packaging waste. Prior to the establishment of Repak ELT on 1 November, there was only one tyres compliance scheme in Ireland, just as there is only one tyre compliance scheme in the majority of EU member states. The suggestion that some sinister new monopoly is being established does not stand up to scrutiny. What is happening is we are trying to maximise efficiency by utilising expertise that exists in Ireland while learning from successful examples from other member states, an approach which we are confident will deliver, in an economically efficient way, the significant improvement in environmental outcomes required.

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is still a lot of misinformation out there. The Minister of State said the non-compliance rate with tyre regulations was 46% but while 46% of economic operators may not have registered, financially they equate to less than 5% of the total tyre activity in the market. The Minister also said a large proportion of waste tyres were stockpiled. The EPA confirmed that the five largest stockpiles since 2007 were on sites of licensed waste collectors, not dumped in ditches around the place, which no one would condone. The Minister of State did not address the appointment process for Repak to administer this scheme. Why was this scheme never put out to tender? Why will this new scheme ultimately cost us consumers over €3 per tyre when the existing scheme, as acknowledged by Repak in its presentation to the Minister of State's parliamentary party, was doing it for 80 cent plus VAT?

This new scheme came in at the beginning of November. How many people have signed up to it, if it is going so well? The Minister of State said there was a lack of information and statistics on non-compliance but I have received correspondence from the chair of Tracs, who outlines the number of collections and other information from 2009 to 2014. People will acknowledge the need for greater compliance but the reason there was not greater compliance was the failure to sanction. Who will provide the additional funding to already cash-strapped local authorities to police the new regulations, considering Repak has no enforcement responsibilities, just like the previous collectors?

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

One thing on which we will agree is that there is a lot of misinformation but I have put on the record statistics published by my Department as far back as 2013. One of those is quite startling, which is that between 25% and 50% of tyres are unaccounted for.

They are not being disposed off by licensed waste collectors or in landfills. They are unaccounted for, which means they have been illegally dumped, transported elsewhere or burned. It is as simple as that.

It is important to have environmental compliance, without which we will expose the State and taxpayers to fines and penalties which can be costly in environmental terms and to the Exchequer. We cannot postpone further the introduction of producer responsibility for waste tyres. We must act and we urgently need a robust, comprehensive system of management for waste tyres. The tyre industry is being asked to do nothing more than what all other sectors have done in terms of managing the waste from products they place on the market.

The full producer responsibility initiative, PRI, for tyres and waste tyres will be operated by Repak. Work has commenced on drafting new tyre regulations and we anticipate that the new structures will be in place by the middle of next year. We are confident that the new arrangements will enjoy the full support of all members of the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers Association, which accounts for approximately 50% of the Irish tyre market. In addition, there has been strong uptake of membership of the Repak end-of-life tyres, ELT, scheme, including from members of the ITIA and ITWRA.

I reiterate that environmental compliance is important and we are asking the tyre sector to step up to the mark in terms of managing waste in the sector and the way in which it is tracked and accounted for because tyres are going missing. Between 25% and 50% of tyres are unaccounted for and being either dumped or burned, which is not good for the environment.