John Ellis (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Hoctor, who is substituting for the Minister, who I believe is ill. I take this opportunity to wish him a speedy recovery.

We come in here to speak about the problems facing us because of waste which are obvious to us every day. Waste from packaging and other products comes into our homes and businesses on a daily basis. Many of these products are recyclable but they end up dumped in landfills. If proper management were in place, only a small quantity of these products would end up in landfills.

Considering what ends up in landfills and exported from this country to outside landfills, it is obvious we are not making the necessary effort to ensure we get the maximum benefit from recycling. We have come a long way when we consider that ten years ago recycling and reuse was seen as having no consequence. At that stage we felt everything could continue as usual and that basically we could dump wherever we liked. We now see the cost of that approach to our environment. We should make people more aware of the benefits of recycling to ensure everything that can be reused is reused. White goods are dumped willy-nilly without anybody taking note of the consequences on our environment of such dumping. Senator John Paul Phelan mentioned the dumping of goods in forestries. Forestry roads are used as a dumping ground for old cars, fridges, cookers and other items people do not want to go to the bother of having recycled.

Under the WEEE directive there is now a recycling charge on consumer items, which means nobody should have to pay for having an item recycled. I compliment the local authorities, many of which run recycling weeks for various products on a regular basis, which is important and should be encouraged. In some cases the charges introduced by local authorities for people who want to take their goods to recycling centres, some of which may have a value for the purpose, are rather high. Local authorities will have to consider the matter and although the centres cannot be run for free, in many cases goods are received that if handled properly have a high residual value when broken down or recycled.

Illegal dumping is a major problem. It is probably an effect of carelessness in many cases and people not thinking about the damage they are doing. For example, when fridges are dumped in forests the gas which escapes from them does considerable damage to our environment.

Large quantities of goods, such as televisions, computers and so on, are exported for recycling. Jobs could be created if such waste were recycled here rather than benefiting people from outside the country. There is also a problem with cars. However, rather than being thrown intact into crushers, cars are now being dismantled and the various components removed. Components, such as aluminium heads from engines, have a high value. Some products are only being semi-processed before being exported for reuse. There are job opportunities in fully recycling such products.

I noticed that the Minister did not refer to farm waste. Biodigesters will be the way forward in terms of dealing with animal slurry and waste. I appeal to the Minister to consider an incentive, such as a grant or investor tax write-off, even for groups of farmers, for the recycling of slurry from the cattle and pig industries. In many parts of the country the land can absorb only so much slurry and is reaching saturation point. The net result is we throw out a valuable resource that could be used for energy production. This should be considered by the Department in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to encourage people to invest in such energy and reduce our reliance on imports of fuel.

Reference has been made to the various products being recycled but a major problem is volume. In some cases the volumes are not sufficient to warrant a large investment in recycling equipment or plant because it has to be hauled from one end of the country to the other. Our population is only one third of the population of London and as a result we face serious transport costs for recycling. Householders must make sacrifices, even if only by going to the local bring centre, if we are to do something about recycling and re-use.

People abuse bring centres such as bottle banks that are not permanently staffed, by throwing cans into the glass bin, or vice versa. That is wrong. They also leave the boxes or bags in which they brought the recyclables alongside the bins. There should be proper surveillance of bring centres, whether by camera or some other device, to prevent this negligence. Somebody who makes the effort to bring something to a recycling centre and then dumps half of it at the foot of the bin is defeating the purpose he or she set out to achieve.

We may have to accept incineration. Several industries, such as the cement industry, could use many of the products that are sent offshore to be incinerated. If we must have an incinerator to prevent further damage caused by dumping so be it. We will then face the usual cry of "not in my backyard" but we all must make sacrifices for the good of our communities. I appeal to the Minister to ensure that if we are to have incineration he will make decisions and provide the necessary incinerators. Before doing so, however, we should consult the cement industry because it could take up most of the waste suitable for recycling.