Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I am glad to make a brief contribution to this important debate. It is a feature of life that we deal with waste every day. Whether it is by hot air or otherwise, we should continue to do what Senator Buttimer said and try to change the mindset of the public. It is easy to use the trendy phrase to reduce, reuse and recycle. It all comes down to the three "r"s, but until we decide we have a problem and that we want to deal with it, it is only a catchy phrase. We must go back to the start, which is in school. There are initiatives like the green school initiative where the children are getting opportunities to be environmentally friendly. There is great enthusiasm from children in primary schools for such projects. They tell me about how they told their mammy not to ask for plastic bags with their shopping.

To be fair to the Government, it led the way internationally with the plastic bag levy and it has been one of the most important features of daily life. It is a bit like the Troubles in the North. We remember the days of the plastic bags and we remember the Troubles in the North. I remember getting searched going into shops, but there is another generation that does not feel it is normal to use a plastic bag. A couple of generations ago people would have brought a trolley with them. My father and grandfather were managers of co-operatives and everything was about putting as much as one could into a cardboard box. When I go to the supermarket now, I feel like I am going back into history because I look for a box into which I can put my shopping. We must send out a message as to what is normal and that will become normal for the next generation. We have tried to put out the message that plastic bags are not normal, not needed and not the solution to everything that they once were. Back then, one could get a bag into which shopping was placed, but also a bag into which the bag was placed in case the first bag burst.

The point about over-wrapping cannot be emphasised enough. There is a great amount of wrapping being done, but children will be more familiar with rapping than wrapping. However, children hold the information and that will change the parents. We should not throw everything back at the teachers, because teachers seem to be the people solving all the woes of the world.

Senator Brady mentioned returnable bottles, but there is no such thing nowadays. When we were young, the five pence we got for bringing back an empty Cidona bottle could mount up pretty quickly. When scavenging for money in order to buy sweets or something more substantial, we were very good at finding these returnable bottles everywhere. By getting a few coins to buy something, we were doing our little bit for reusing and recycling. People say that it will not work now, because they would walk past five cent or even a euro on the ground. However, I wonder if the same mindset exists among younger people today as existed when we were very young. Money should still mean something to them, and if they could get some for gathering a few bottles, then maybe they would go for it. We should look to manufacturers to see if we can bring back the concept of returnable bottles.

When I was in secondary school, one of the companies asked for the lids of cans, which were collected in the big supermarkets in Derry. I am not sure if this was a Northern policy, or whether it was an all-island policy. The money raised from collecting all that aluminium was put into providing wheelchairs. Even though people may not be excited about getting five cent for returning a bottle, they are excited by a good cause. We should try to use a few carrots, rather than big sticks.

The elderly waiver form needs to be examined. Waste will continue to become more expensive and we must be mindful that if some people cannot afford it, then it needs to be dealt with properly. I am also worried about the anti-social aspect of some forms of littering. People who drop their cigarette butts outside the pub, because they are not allowed to smoke inside, would not consider their behaviour to be anti-social. However, a number cigarette butts in the one place will come across as anti-social. In the rural areas of my constituency, we have a problem with items left in storage such as paint. People are inclined to open the storage and toss the paint around the place. Any bags tied up are untied and the contents are strewn around the place. This littering is not caused exclusively by dogs, foxes and other wild animals. It is often caused by citizens who are not litter conscious.

I commend the Government on its role in the development of the waste centre in Carndonagh, Inishowen. There also may be a need for a similar centre in Buncrana. The centre was free to use for some time. It is an important facility on the peninsula to which people drive to dispose of their waste. I am aware fees will be imposed henceforth on some aspects of waste disposal, but I hope that measure will not reverse the cycle of waste disposal in designated facilities and result in people dumping their waste in boglands or in the Sperrin mountains.

I would like to inform Senator Brady that scrap car prices are high. We have no problem with scrap cars in my area. As soon as the price of scrap cars increases, one cannot find a scrap car for love nor money, which is good thing. However, when the price decreases, places are littered with cars that failed the NCT, which have been sold for €20 upwards. Boyracers who tend to buy them, fill them with diesel or petrol, drive them until they run out of fuel, spin them on the road causing danger to themselves and others and then burn them on the spot. There was a spate of such incidents until the price of scrap cars increased. Perhaps a mechanism could be put in place in the Department to intervene in the market by ensuring a reserve is put in place when the price of scrap materials, be it glass, paper or cars, is low and uncompetitive to ensure such materials are collected and retained.

I strongly support the notion of one individual having the role of a litter warden and a traffic warden and being able to give on-the-spot fines. Such fines could constitute the wages of such individuals, at least initially, and they would force people to quickly clean up their acts.

The tidy towns initiative, in which the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, was involved, has resulted in great work being done. I am pleased the initiative has been increasingly linked to activities in schools, which ensures communities are assisted. Initiatives such as that in place in Donegal County Council need to be maintained. If members of a community decide they want to clean up their local areas, the council will arrange for them to be provided with a skip, gloves and other equipment. This is a commercial venture and, as in the case of any commercial venture, the council cannot afford to leave a skip in an area for weeks on end.

There are many other issues I would liked to have raised. An EIS for the Moville sewerage scheme was submitted. We were advised initially by the EPA that it was not needed and later advised it was. If a council has gone above and beyond the requirements to submit a comprehensive impact assessment on waste management, An Bord Pleanála should be more than happy to receive more information rather than reject the information offered and then request further information.

The need for enforcement officers and for a reduction in the amount of wrapping on products is important to reduce the volume of waste created. A proper mindset is necessary to tackle the problem. The involvement of children in the green schools initiative and the tidy towns initiative is a good starting point to address the issues involved.