Larry Butler (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Gormley, to the House and thank him for keeping in touch with me as a public representative in the Seanad. He is prompt in letting me know what is happening in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which is very important.

This country's waste management services have developed from a low base. I spent 17 years as a member of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The council opened its first baling station in Ballymount in 1993 because it was not happy with what it was putting into the ground. It understood the need to focus on recycling in Dublin. It closed Ballyogan tiphead, which was quite close to the city, five years later. Five years is not long in a recycling process. The baling and recycling station that was developed by the council has worked very well. There has been some criticism of this country's waste management systems, including recycling. We have improved such services in the short time since we began to take them seriously. The Minister, Deputy Gormley, who has some good ideas, will keep us on our toes.

I wish to highlight some figures which show that Ireland's performance in this regard is improving. There are 81 civic amenity sites and 1,937 bring banks in operation throughout the country. That is a significant improvement. We started with nothing. Some 58% of packaging is now recycled. I am sure we can do better in that regard. We should ask supermarkets, which represent the main source of recyclable waste, to look at the repackaging programme they have for display on their shelves.

The most amazing improvements which have been made are in the construction industry. Some 87% of waste from that industry, which used to go into landfill, is now recycled. That great improvement shows we are aware of what we can do with the recycled materials for which we have found a market. It is good we are thinking about how we can recycle and reuse material from demolitions on construction sites. It is a great improvement. Some 34% of biodegradable waste was recycled in 2005. I am sure we can do better than that. I have given some of the figures.

Senator Bradford mentioned the electrical trade in which significant improvements have been made. There was a great deal of opposition to the decision to phase in the recycling of such waste. I applaud the then Minister, Deputy Roche, on his introduction of electrical recycling which has made a major difference. If he had not taken that step, the countryside could have been littered with many more washing machines and cookers, etc. Although one can now bring such waste to recycling centres, some of it is still being dumped in the countryside.

The existence of recycling centres serves to remind people they cannot dump things anymore. One must recycle what one brings to recycling centres by putting it in the various bins. The substantial improvements made over the past ten to 15 years, when green, blue and brown bins have been supplied, have helped to educate people and change their mindsets. People in some parts of the country are still waiting to get brown bins, however.

I would like to ask the Minister about the waiver system for vulnerable people with fixed incomes, which has already been mentioned. Many people on social welfare, for example, cannot afford to pay waste charges. While I am a firm believer in the polluter pays principle, we need to help polluters who cannot afford to pay. I suggest the Minister for Social and Family Affairs should be in charge of the waiver system because it is a little unfair to ask the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to deal with it. As that could be a good move, it should be considered. The waiver system should be operated in the same way as the social welfare and pensions systems.

I wish to highlight a major problem which Dublin will be the first part of the country to experience. Kill landfill facility will close at some stage in the next five years. Dublin is exporting its waste. I suggest to the Minister that Dublin will have to consider incineration and thermal treatment. We should develop three or four incinerators throughout the country because this problem will affect areas outside Dublin as time goes by. When there was an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Britain, the authorities there found it difficult to dispose of animal waste and material such as tallow. We have to look at the bigger waste management picture. As a farming nation, we must consider how we will handle problems which will arise in the agriculture sector.