Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Senator. I am obviously taking this opportunity to reply on behalf of the Minister. Over the past two decades Ireland has made significant progress in moving away from disposal as our primary treatment option for waste. 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 environmentally accountable for the products they place on the market. Ireland uses the extended producer responsibility, EPR, model to deal with waste streams from electronic and electrical equipment and batteries. 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 and EPR schemes are an effective method to achieve this. The Irish compliance schemes for WEEE and batteries are WEEE Ireland and ERP Ireland. The schemes are funded by a combination of producer fees and visible environmental management costs charged on certain items of electrical and electronic equipment.

Producer responsibility legislation is designed to ensure producers of relevant goods contribute to the cost of collecting and recycling these goods when they are no longer in use. Ensuring all obligated producers pay their share is critical to the credibility and success of EPR schemes.Online retailers or distance sellers, by virtue of their number and location, present a particular challenge for EPR scheme compliance in Ireland and across the EU. This is a critical issue for EPR. Free-riding distance sellers enjoy a cost advantage over their counterparts who pay their EPR fees. Ensuring a level playing field across different business models is vital for fairness for EU producers. The Department is working with stakeholders and regulators to tackle this issue both systemically and at the level of individual operators.

In Ireland, the Environmental Protection Agency and local authorities have enforcement roles under the relevant legislation. Those bodies work together and with EPR organisations to ensure compliance in the Irish market and to contribute to the achievement of EU recycling targets. The EPA is responsible for enforcing certain obligations on both distance sellers and distributors under WEEE and batteries regulations and may take a prosecution for a summary offence for failure to comply with regulations.

Other approaches, such as a pay-on-behalf model led by a host online platform, also offer opportunities to promote compliance. This is where an online platform, as the Senator indicated, would provide simplified compliance on behalf of their sellers, who may be small producers and perceive the risk of non-compliance as outweighing the benefits of joining a producer responsibility scheme. Producers would collectively delegate EPR registration, reporting and payment obligations to a nominated authorised representative via their online marketplace platform, and would pay their compliance fees to the platform.

Furthermore, the European Commission is preparing a legislative proposal for a circular economy Act to be published next year. This represents an opportunity for the EU to strengthen enforcement around this issue and the Department will actively support measures proposed to promote fair competition in the EU market.