Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not hear Sinn Féin acknowledging the significant progress made by local authorities in diverting waste from landfill. This success and progress should be acknowledged. Instead, the party acts opportunistically by jumping on people's fears and concerns and hyping up the issue to change it into something else. I am entitled to hold that opinion.

Statistics show that in 2011, when the most recent survey was carried out, 46% of households were paying a flat fee, 34% were paying for either a tag or on a per-lift basis and 20% were on the pay-by-weight charging system. Studies have shown that the introduction of a pay-by-weight system would mean the diversion of more than 450,000 tonnes of waste from landfill every year. That is the nub of the issue. The Minister's engagement with the waste companies and commitment to introduce a dual pricing policy will help communicate and raise awareness of how to change behaviour to divert waste from landfill. If we are all being honest, we must ask whether we compost waste at home and engage in all of the actions we advocate in the Oireachtas. The home is where waste management starts, which leads be back to schoolchildren and how they could teach us all a lesson or two on sustainability, waste management and caring for the environment.

Hysteria is being stoked about something that is not an issue. A regulation is being introduced in accordance with the polluter-pays principle, with which, as has been shown by the support for the waste collection systems introduced ten or 15 years ago in the face of significant opposition from Sinn Féin, most people agree. The diversion of waste from landfill works. I urge politicians to behave responsibly and lead the way, as children are doing in schools, on sustainability and waste management.

As I stated, the fundamental issue is the polluter-pays principle which incentivises and encourages people to reduce the waste being placed in bins and transported to landfill. The pay-by-weight system is a means of achieving this and gives people more control over their waste costs. Those who try to manage their waste in a positive and progressive manner will find their charges will fall because they will send less waste to landfill. This will, in turn, reduce the costs to the State arising from landfill management and remediation costs. We are building up a legacy for the future. Perhaps the Minister will clarify how many millions have been spent in the past ten or 20 years on remediating landfill sites. A number of such sites have been remediated in my local area at substantial cost. While some have been turned into beautiful amenities, all of this has come at a cost to the Exchequer and taxpayers. If we do not manage waste, we will ultimately pay the cost in any event.Ultimately, we are paying for it if we do not manage it and that is a fact. The taxpayer will pay the price, ultimately. There are also many private landfill sites around the country which must be managed and remediated. We have a long way to go in dealing with the legacy we were left with terms of bad practice and bad waste management over many years.

Another issue that must be reviewed is that of franchise bidding versus side-by-side kerb side collections. In the larger urban areas numerous competing bin-collection companies are operating in the same areas which is causing frustration for householders. A review took place under the regulatory impact analysis of 2012 which recommended that we continue with the existing system. However, the next 12 months will provide an opportunity to review that system again to see if there is a more efficient and better way of doing things through franchise bidding in the market.

I reiterate that it was never the Government's intention to increase charges to householders. We all have a responsibility to be honest and open with the public. We are supposed to show the way so rather than creating hysteria we should be communicating, as the Minister is proposing, what the proposed system can bring in terms of benefits for householders if they manage their waste and reduce the amount going to landfill, thus reducing the cost. The open market can function by competing for household waste business which should also drive down the cost.

It is very important that we acknowledge the enormous progress that has been made in the last ten to 15 years in recycling and the diversion of waste from landfill sites. We have advanced very significantly and that should be acknowledged by the Opposition.