Seanad debates

Thursday, 7 July 2022

Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages

 

9:30 am

Photo of Ossian SmythOssian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

These amendments are all related, and in many cases address technical drafting issues. They have the cumulative effect of providing the Minister with the power to impose a levy not only on single-use disposable cups but also on certain re-usable alternatives to those cups that are supplied to the consumer below a certain price point, which will be set by the Minister in secondary legislation. The amendments have the same policy objective as the amendment proposed by Senator Pauline O'Reilly on Committee Stage, namely, to address the potential for nominally reusable "flimsy" plastic cups to be supplied for free to consumers as a means of avoiding the disposable cup levy. I acknowledge that the form of the present amendments differs greatly from that proposed by the Senator. However, I am satisfied following discussions with the Office of the Attorney General that the amendments as they are set out here achieve that policy objective while also cohering with the wider architecture of the Bill.

Amendments Nos. 6 and 7 define two new classes of reusable item, "re-usable alternative items" and "relevant re-usable alternative items". Amendment No. 10 then expands the definition of "single-use item" to include relevant reusable alternative items. These amended definitions then facilitate amendment No. 33, which amends section 11(1)(a) to allow for environmental levies to be applied to such class or classes of reusable alternative items as may be prescribed in secondary legislation. When so prescribed, these class or classes are then treated as single-use items for the purpose of the Bill.

Amendment No. 36 then amends section 11(2) to make unambiguously clear that the price at which an item is supplied can be a factor in the level of material wastage associated with that item, including where it is supplied for free. These changes will cumulatively allow me to specify in regulations that, for example, the supply of plastic cups to customers below a minimum price point will incur the levy. This addresses the potential problem of flimsy plastic cups as raised by Senator Pauline O'Reilly and referred to as well by Senators Dooley and McGahon. The remainder of the Government amendments are consequential technical drafting amendments to ensure consistency between the new provisions and the language used in the rest of the Bill. There are other amendments in this grouping that are not Government amendments so I will allow the proposers to speak on those.

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