Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh. I also thank Senator Burke for his warm welcome. I look forward to working with them and their colleagues in Seanad Éireann.

This is an important matter and I welcome the opportunity to outline the current position on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth. Over the past two decades Ireland has made significant progress in moving away from disposal as our primary treatment option. Ireland's national Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy provides a roadmap to transition to a circular economy in the decade ahead. One of the key objectives in this action plan includes making producers who manufacture and sell goods for profit environmentally accountable for the products they place on the market. Ireland uses the extended producer responsibility, EPR, model to deal with the end-of-life vehicles waste stream. This model is based on the producer-pays principle. In a circular economy, producers must be held to account for the sustainability of the products they place on the market.The extended producer responsibility, EPR, scheme has an effective method to achieve this. The compliance scheme for end-of-life vehicles, ELVs, is operated by End-of-Life Vehicles Environmental Services, ELVES, a non-profit company that was set up by vehicle manufacturers to help them to deliver their obligations under the end-of-life vehicles regulations.

ELVES received approval to operate as the compliance scheme for the vehicles sector from my Department in 2017. It is funded solely by its producer members. Fees paid by the producer members are spent on reuse, recycling and recovery of end-of-life vehicles. In 2022, €2 of every €3 of its income were spent directly on these costs. It is important that end-of-life vehicles are recycled to extract valuable materials from them, which contribute to the EU's self-sufficiency in the area of critical raw materials. Critically, appropriate disposal and recycling is necessary to ensure end-of-life vehicles do not harm the environment.

ELVES has a network of authorised treatment facilities, ATFs, which facilitate the dismantling and recycling of end-of-life vehicles. It provides training, education and guidance to ATFs and operates a programme of sector education awareness-raising activities. ELVES delivers and financially supports projects to improve car recycling in Ireland. The EPR scheme has operated successfully, allowing attainment of EU targets for end-of-life vehicles. In 2021, Ireland achieved the EU target for both recovery and recycling of end-of-life vehicles. However, as the automotive industry continues to evolve, so too does the need for effective management of the waste streams to minimise environmental impact and promote the circular economy.

The European Commission has made proposals for a ELVs regulation and the new rules for the design and management of these vehicles with stronger producer responsibility. These regulations are under consideration and Ireland has made a positive and proactive contribution as negotiations progress. I welcome this significant initiative which aims to establish a comprehensive framework for the environmentally sound treatment and recycling of ELVs, placing greater responsibility on vehicle producers, from design to production to treatment at end of life. We will seek an appropriate balance in the negotiations between achieving real and meaningful environmental outcomes, on one hand, and getting buy-in from producers and those involved in the treatment of end-of-life vehicles, on the other.

ELVES, as the compliance scheme, will continue to plan for the implementation of the new regulations and adopt policy directions in relation to end-of-life vehicles, as appropriate. The transition to a circular economy offers an alternative to our make waste linear economy. In a circular economy, waste and resource use are minimised and the value of products and materials is maintained for as long as possible. In a circular economy, when a product has reached the end of its life, its parts can be used again and again to create further useful products, such as in the car recycling industry.