Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

77. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has considered a re-introduction of public service bin collections to reduce the impact of fly-tipping and dumping. [11502/23]

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Has the Minister of State considered the reintroduction of public service bin collections to reduce the impact of fly-tipping and dumping.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Local authorities are responsible for municipal waste collection and waste management planning within their functional areas. The obligations on local authorities relating to collecting household waste are set out in section 33 of the Waste Management Act 1996, as amended. In summary, it provides that each local authority shall collect, or arrange for the collection of, household waste within its functional area. The obligation to collect or arrange for the collection of household waste shall not apply if: an adequate waste collection service is available in the local authority's functional area; the estimated costs of the collection of the waste would, in the opinion of the local authority, be unreasonably high; or the local authority is satisfied that adequate arrangements for the disposal of the waste concerned can reasonably be made by the holder of the waste.

It is open to any local authority to re-enter the waste collection market as direct service providers if they so choose, either alongside existing permitted service providers or subject to making arrangements to replace those providers.

Under section 60(3) of the Waste Management Act 1996 I am, as delegated Minister of State, precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance by a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in that local authority.

As the Minister of State delegated by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, I am focused on introducing measures to drive waste minimisation and improve waste segregation to help us achieve our challenging EU targets for municipal waste recycling of 55%, 60% and 65% by 2025, 2030 and 2035, respectively. In this regard I have recently signed regulations to introduce incentivised charging for the commercial sector from 1 July. My Department is currently drafting regulations to roll out biowaste collection to all households in the State with a waste collection service.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Bin charges have increased by 10% since 2021. People are now facing the prospect of having to pay for their compost to be collected. This flies in the face of the excuses used at the time of imposing bin charges to encourage recycling.

The Minister of State just said local authorities have responsibility for waste collection, and one of the reasons it could it is where costs are unreasonably high, and that the power remains with the local authority. If we have local authorities that do not have the funding to provide a bin collection service, because of Government decisions we are forcing local authorities to privatise. If we look at the amount of waste they are throwing away, it has stayed the same since 2010. In fact, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, recycling has reduced, and all bin collection charges are doing now is encouraging dumping. The reality is that when families are stuck between heating and eating, their last priority is waste collection. If people have a choice of putting shoes on their children or paying for their waste collection, what would they do?

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A waiver should be in place for elderly people and people with disabilities.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Gould makes the point that although local authorities have the right to collect the waste themselves if they want to do so, and that it is their choice, he is saying they do not have the funding. Local authorities set their own local property taxes and commercial rates levels. If they want to raise funding to run their own waste collection services, they can do. They also have the incentive that they can charge for waste collection, as a private company does. They could charge a lower fee if they wanted. They can do all of that if that is their choice. If any local authority wants to write to me and tell me that it wants to re-municipalise its waste service, perhaps at the request of councillors, it is welcome to do that. As Minister of State, I am not entitled to overrule the decisions of local authorities and what they choose to do with their waste collection. In my experience, living in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council area, there was a time when the council collected the waste and then private collectors entered the market. When the private collectors entered the market they charged less than the council. They collected green bin waste and brown bin waste, which the council had not been doing. They provided a better service and people chose to move to those private collectors.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The council lost a huge quantity of money on waste collection and does not want to go back there.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to point something out to the Minister of State. He provided funding for anti-dumping initiatives in 2022. Of the 13 projects in Cork city, only one was on the north side. The communities that got the funding were the ones that were most affluent and probably least in need of it, while the communities that were most in need did not get it. Perhaps they did not have the interest or organisation to apply for it. Could the Minister of State explain that?

We have a situation now where there are voids, vacant houses belonging to local authorities, which are a magnet for dumping. I raised this yesterday with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. There is an unbelievable amount of dumping and antisocial behaviour.

Vulnerable people such as pensioners and people with disabilities should be given a waiver. Will the Minister of State provide funding to local authorities for a waiver? Some local authorities provide a waiver to those vulnerable people and others do not.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Either everyone is treated equally, or they are not. That lies with the Minister of State.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In the context of the council's role, I want to ask the Minister of State whether he believes it would be helpful in terms of promoting recycling if there was more information on the rate of contamination of collections to be provided through the various providers. I refer to greater clarity on the destination of the different waste streams and perhaps better clarity on the labelling of packaging so that people would have a much clearer view of the way in which they should treat different items.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I was in Cork city last year meeting Cork City Council and the waste collectors, the people who collect the waste themselves, so that I could get a good input, in particular on dumping. I was not aware that there was a problem with anti-dumping initiatives being focused on wealthier areas. I will look into it. That is not the point of it. We are introducing CCTV very shortly to catch commercial dumping operations – criminals who are dumping in areas where they think they are going to get away with it.

To respond to Deputy Bruton, I will look into the rate of contamination. One of the most important things is to give information to people about the destination of waste. There are a lot of myths around where waste goes. People just do not understand where green bin waste or brown bin waste goes. There are stories that it all goes to China or that it is not reprocessed. I have gone to visit all of those facilities and I have seen what happens. I think we could do better at providing information through services like mywaste.ieand so on, through videos to explain to people where waste ends up.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Could the Minister of State say anything about the waiver?