Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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106. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his proposals to increase the amount of polyethylene terephthalate, PET plastic recycled in Ireland. [30328/25]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The deposit return scheme is well known to people, sometimes for the hassle of it and sometimes for the economic benefit of it. A huge proportion of the plastic that is collected under the scheme is shipped as waste plastic out of Ireland even though there is at least one company in this State that could manage quite a large part of the process. Is the Minister of State making efforts to ensure a greater proportion of the plastic that is collected is recycled in Ireland?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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In 2022, the most recent year for which EPA statistics are available, Ireland recycled 32% of plastic packaging waste. This exceeds the current target of 22.5% but meeting the stricter targets of 50% and 55% for 2025 and 2026, respectively, will be more challenging. These figures are in respect of all plastics, including PET. The EU list of plastic waste codes does not isolate individual polymers. Given the volume and grade of materials collected through our waste collection system, plastics are mostly recycled abroad for reasons of economic viability.

However, measures are under way that will help to boost recycling rates for plastics, including PET, and make recycling on the island a more attractive proposition for investors. These measures include the national deposit return scheme, as the Deputy mentioned. For the first time, a separate high-quality stream of PET is now available for recycling. Together with the requirement under the single-use plastics directive for incorporating 25% of recycled plastic in PET beverage bottles from 2025, rising to 30% from 2030, the case for investing in recycling here has never been stronger.

In keeping with the polluter pays principle, extended producer responsibility schemes have a key role in meeting national collection and recycling targets and supporting investment to ensure as much as possible can be recovered and recycled domestically. Repak, the extended producer responsibility scheme for packaging, and Re-turn, which operates the deposit return scheme, are both working with investors to maximise the recycling of all types of plastic packaging here in Ireland.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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It is regrettable that the figures the Minister of State gave a date from before the introduction of the deposit return scheme. The information I have is that by the end of this month, 17,000 tonnes of plastic will have been collected under the scheme but only 3,400 tonnes of that will have been brought to a factory in the State. I mentioned previously to the Tánaiste in the House that Shabra Plastics and Recycling, a company in my constituency, can do a large part of the work. The process involves the bottles being washed, flaked, pelleted and then returned as bottles. Shabra can do the first two parts, that is, washing and flaking. The immediate environmental benefit from this is that four lorry loads of plastic bottles become three lorry loads of flakes. Is Repak obliged to follow any environmental consideration in the operation of the scheme? It seems to me it is not.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We are absolutely committed on this side of the House to moving to recycle more plastic in Ireland. We need to be honest about the current reality that the waste management sector, including plastic recycling, operates in a global market and that a large part of the plastic recycling collected, including under the deposit return scheme, is traded internationally, based on volume and quality and on economic viability. That is why we introduced the enhanced producer responsibility schemes such as Re-turn and Repak. In fact, Repak provides subsidies of €100 per tonne for plastic reprocessed in Ireland. We certainly recognise that we need to do more. The Government is very much focused on solutions. We are looking to incentivise the building of the infrastructure and building the partnerships needed to ensure Ireland leads the way in regard to waste management, especially for PET and plastic bottles.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I do not know how the Minister of State can say Ireland leads the way on plastics recycling when, in fact, we are leading the way in shipping those materials all over the world. We need to build capacity. As I mentioned, Shabra Plastics and Recycling can do a large part of the work and could do it all if it puts in a pellet production line. That would involve a huge investment, however, and the company would have to have enough plastic coming in do it. I hope the Minister of State accepts the real difficulty is that the plastic is achieving more money elsewhere. Repak is selling it to the highest bidder without any environmental consideration. That is a problem because it not the best option environmentally and it is preventing us from reaching what the Minister of State has stated is his objective, namely, to have more of the plastic recycled in Ireland. Will he engage with the domestic industry and with Repak to end this absolute scandal?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I would challenge the figures the Deputy outlined. In 2024 alone, Re-turn collected up to 12,000 tonnes of PET plastic, 34% of which was processed by Irish companies, and, separately, Repak funded the recycling of more than 8,300 tonnes, which represented 42% of reprocessing in Ireland. Is it enough? No, it is not. We are well aware we need to make a significant step forward. We fully recognise that Ireland's recycling infrastructure needs to grow. The Minister and I are very conscious of that. The enhanced producer responsibility schemes like Repak and Re-turn are investing in domestic capacity. We want to grow that but it is a challenge in terms of the scale. The most recent regulations by way of the single-use plastics directive and the packaging waste regulation are driving market demand for recycled materials like PET plastics. We want to male significant strides in this regard in the future.