Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome my comrades from Trinity College Ógra Shinn Féin. There is a Trinity Senator here whom they can meet tonight. I will begin by commending my comrade, Senator Boylan, and Brian Marron in her office who have worked tirelessly and done a very good job on this issue. I do not want to go over issues that have been covered and I am coming in at a late point in the debate but it is no exaggeration to say that, when all of socioeconomic and environmental challenges of the day are considered, the destruction of unused unsold clothing represents the most wasteful scenario of all. The dominant approach to date has been to blame consumers for fast fashion but the reality is that dumping clothing is an intrinsic part of the business model in the fashion industry. This kind of overproduction does not happen by accident. It is a fundamental part of achieving projected profits. It is actively pursued and actively invested in. As has been mentioned, Burberry, H&M and Zara have all been caught wilfully engaging in the destruction of vast quantities of clothing. From 2013 to 2017, the total value of merchandise destroyed by Burberry alone was £90 million. That has been put on the record tonight.

The Minister of State mentioned the export of waste. We made attempts to bring this forward in the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022. Our rising levels of waste are unsustainable and are threatening our achievement of EU recycling targets. The Minister of State touched on our continued reliance on exporting waste, including municipal waste, hazardous waste and packaging waste. We are only recycling 62% of packaging waste. When I go to the supermarket, I wonder why vegetables come in plastic packaging. I do not want my peppers in plastic packaging. Why are they cheaper than the loose vegetables? Our increasing levels of waste are undoing our efforts to recycle more.

I commend Senator Boylan's work on this Bill. I spoke on Second Stage. I would welcome Government enthusiasm and ambition in respect of this Bill.