Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State's response and understand that it is easier to verify information on the lifespan of products at an EU level. I ask him to address amendment No. 74, which pertains to a ban on the dumping of new non-food products. This is an example where we know that an EU member state has already gone ahead and done this. In France, there is legislation where retailers are obliged to look for other options for unsold products, including donation or recycling. It is senseless for perfectly good products to end up being wasted in landfill or being incinerated. Also, if products are going straight from the shelf to landfill without even being used once then there is extra embodied carbon, and there is all of the waste of energy and raw materials that went into making these products. This is a critical part of the circular economy. I would like to hear the rationale as to why we cannot follow the very good example set by France in this regard.