Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the report today that the Poolbeg incinerator has reduced waste exports by 7%. This is welcome but incineration is not the way to go for producing energy. It just encourages waste and is an easy policy option. There are emissions with the production of waste in the first instance and there are emissions at the end when we burn it. It is not good for the environment. We are improving the recycling of waste in the State, which is positive, but it must get better. If we recycle more there will be less waste. Will incineration plants then have to import waste for efficient burning?

We must discourage waste production in the first instance and put obligations on manufacturers to reduce the amount of packaging. Recently, supermarkets have started asking people to leave their plastic and cardboard behind. That is a great initiative but we need to bring it to the production area. It is estimated that almost 100 tonnes of packaging waste were generated in Ireland in 2015 and plastic used in packaging accounts for 40% of Europe's overall plastic usage. At the end of the conveyor belt it creates a financial burden for the ordinary household with ever-escalating bin charges in a largely unregulated household waste collection service. The model of side-by-side competition in the household waste collection market, unique in Europe, must change as well. We must reduce what is going into the bins in the first instance through the creation of such incentives as a deposit and return scheme. We must protect our environment.