Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the spirit of the amendment, I sympathise with the fact that we do not want the unintended consequences of flimsy plastic. That is why Senator O'Reilly's proposal to address such items, rather than not introducing a levy, is a better way to go. I agree that we must move to a system where we do not have single-use items. The end of the journey in this regard is to reduce waste.

I am concerned about potential greenwashing by companies. Even if a product is biodegradable or compostable by European Union standards, the reality is that if such items are put in the bin or are subject to the compost options available to us in this House, they will go into a regular bin. They would not be composted because they must go into an industrial composter in order to be broken down. Senator Dooley spoke about the paper cup going into a hedge. It should eventually break down but would not do so because it contains an amount of plastic.

I hope we will get to amendment No. 72 in my name, which outlines the idea of refillable containers not just in cafés but also in supermarkets. This is in order to completely shift the way we organise our society to going back to reducing the amount of waste in the first place. My amendment looks at what was done in France, where there are refill stations in supermarkets over a particular size. As I say, I sympathise with the fact that there may be unintended consequences from the provisions. There are ways of addressing that, however.