Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, for coming in today. There has been much discussion in this House and also around the country recently since the announcement by Panda that it would bring in charges for the collection of brown bins for domestic users. We all know that the public bin collection was privatised in an era when waste production and management was not considered as urgent an issue as it is today, and the climate and environmental impacts of it were not as appreciated. This is in part due to the greater awareness of the need to tackle climate change and also in part due to the higher cost of living facing those customers now.

When a charging system was introduced for what had been previously a public service, to quote a 2020 study by Quinn and Feeney of Queen's University in Belfast: "The result of the economization process was a fully privatised, profit-oriented, price-monitored system." Waste management, especially recycling waste management, should not be a profit-orientated business. The use of the free market as a place to deal with domestic waste has now led to more vehicles on the road for collections. I know everybody in this Chamber will have been caught behind two or three bin lorries doing the same route and servicing neighbours. We can see the impact that is having. It also leads to higher prices for people trying to do the right thing by recycling and composting. Again, we are seeing that with the introduction of the charges by Panda. We are faced with a situation whereby some people will not be able to pay for their bin collection in the future. That impacts us all because it does lead to an increase in fly-tipping and dumping.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Agency, CCPC, addressed providers in 2018 and stated that consumers have little or no power in an unregulated Irish waste market. We also know that the private model has not only harmed consumers but has led to poor standards of employment for workers in the sector, as is evident from cases like the Greyhound Recycling centre workers who were forced out on strike for 11 weeks by their employer while temporary staff were brought in to operate those routes. Certain services that are essential for the health and well-being of a society should never have a financial barrier placed in front of them and one of those is waste collection.

On Leaders' Questions last week there was a suggestion from the Tánaiste that a review of waste collection would be appropriate. Does the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, feel that it is time for a root and branch review and consideration of bringing bin collection back into public ownership in order to block attempts by private companies to charge people for what is an essential service. That is really what we need to consider here. Waste collection is an essential service. There should not be financial barriers for people to use it. We must ensure that something like this is within State control, so we can encourage and incentivise people to do the right thing and use charges to penalise or to discourage the wrong thing from happening. That is not happening at the moment. The private operators are there purely to make money. That is their business model. That is what they are meant to do, but I do not think that is the approach that this Government should use or facilitate. I ask the Minister of State to consider re-examining this issue and seeing if there is a better way of providing these essential services to the public, one that is environmentally friendly but also financially affordable for people.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I thank Deputy Whitmore for raising the issue. Local authorities are responsible for municipal waste collection and waste management planning within their functional areas. The obligations on local authorities in relation 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 a direct service provider if it so chooses, 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 my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is 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 it.

Altering the structure of the household waste collection market was the subject of a public consultation exercise in 2011. A comprehensive regulatory impact analysis, RIA, from 2012 also considered options regarding the organisation of the household waste collection market. The RIA recognised that there were some advantages to the franchise-bidding approach, also known as competition for the market, which scored marginally higher than strengthening the regulatory regime and keeping the existing side-by-side competitive market structure or competition in the market. However, given the critical nature of the waste collection service, the risks associated with moving to franchise bidding were judged to deem this option ultimately less desirable. Noting that there was a possibility that a switch from side-by-side competition to franchise bidding could incur costs that actually made household waste collection less efficient, the RIA ultimately made the recommendation to strengthen the regulation of the market, especially in light of the risks associated with competition for the market.

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and his Department continue to be 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% by 2025, 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035 and limiting landfill to 10% by 2035.

In this regard, the Minister recently signed regulations to introduce incentivised charging for the commercial sector from 1 July and his Department is currently drafting regulations to roll out bio-waste collection to all households in the State with a waste collection service.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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The Minister of State's response outlines the current situation and the legal requirements put in place by previous Governments in relation to waste collection; what it does not talk about is whether this is an area the Minister of State would consider re-examining to see if it could be done better. Things have changed significantly since 2011. The environmental impact of waste is higher on our agenda, thankfully. In instances like this, our legislation and policies need to be dynamic and to move with the most recent evidence. I would like to hear the Government is open to reviewing that.

The Minister of State talks about how it is open to local authorities at the moment to provide this service but I have worked as a councillor, as I think the Minister of State may have. He knows our local authorities are absolutely stretched and there is no way they will look to provide a service where there is not direction from the Government that they must do it. They will not actively seek this new role and responsibility with all the infrastructure costs required to get something like this started.

The question for the Minister of State, representing the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications here today, is whether this is something the Government will consider doing and is prepared to fund. Local authorities would need funding to get a good, robust, efficient system in place which will stand us well into the future, help consumers to meet the cost of these charges and be suited to the current environmental situation.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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A recent report produced for Dublin City Council by the Institute of Public Administration found it would be contrary to competition law to exclude private companies from the waste collection market in favour of returning the function to local authorities. Altering the structure of the market for tendering by local authorities would take several years and require consideration of legal issues including competition and procurement law, potential legal challenges including on constitutional grounds, a full regulatory impact analysis, comprehensive public consultation and significant capital investment by local authorities.

The focus of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and his Department for the waste sector is to encourage greater waste minimisation, improve waste segregation and increase recycling rates. A number of measures are in place and the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act provides for a number of measures from the waste action plan for a circular economy, including incentivised waste collection charging in the commercial sector; a recovery levy on municipal waste recovery operations at municipal landfills, waste energy plants, co-incineration plants and the export of waste; the expansion of household bio-waste collection services; and the introduction of a deposit return scheme for single-use PET plastics and aluminium and steel which will go live in quarter 1 next year. These measures will encourage greater waste minimisation and improved source segregation of waste by customers across the State, and will contribute to achieving our challenging EU targets for municipal waste.

I was not aware of the details of the Tánaiste’s comments last week. In the case of any public service used by the wider population on a regular basis, it makes sense for us to review how it works to make sure it is having not just societal impacts but also the environmental impacts we all want.