Gay Mitchell (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 244: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his plans to provide or support the provision of a paper and cardboard waste recycling facility following the announced closure of a company (details supplied); if he is aware that 360,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard waste are generated annually in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6126/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department — under the auspices of the North South Market Development Group, and in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and the UK waste resources action programme, WRAP — recently commissioned a consultancy study to examine the feasibility of developing new paper mill capacity on the island of Ireland with a view to utilising greater volumes of collected waste paper and cardboard locally. If a viable option can be identified, this would provide stable domestic recycling capacity and produce new recycled paper and cardboard products for the domestic market. The commissioning of this consultancy study, which is being undertaken by a multinational consortium and is due for completion by the end of March, is timely. I await its conclusions with interest.

A range of measures to promote the recycling of paper is already in place and the available data show that they are having a significant impact. These measures have included the progressive roll-out of segregated household collection of dry recyclables, or kerbside green bin collection services, to more than 560,000 households, or some 42% of all households in the State. It is estimated that newsprint and other paper and cardboard waste account for more than 50% of the material being collected from households via the green bin collection service. The 2003 packaging regulations imposed a mandatory obligation on those placing packaging on the market to segregate specified back-door packaging waste arising on their premises and have it collected by authorised operators for recycling. Paper and cardboard are among the specified materials that must be segregated for this purpose. A public service waste management programme which is being prepared will ensure that all public authorities will routinely use recycled paper. Moreover, a producer responsibility initiative, PRI, is under discussion with the newsprint industry with a view to improving recovery rates for newsprint.

The EPA has reported in its National Waste Database Interim Report for 2003, published in December 2004, that an estimated 925,329 tonnes of paper and cardboard waste were generated in that year, of which 358,878 tonnes were collected for recycling, representing a recovery rate of 38.8% for this waste stream. The plant referred to in the question had a capacity to process approximately 45,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard annually, which is relatively small by international standards. While the closure of this plant is regretted, the vast majority — approximately 87.5%, or 313,878 tonnes — of the increasing volumes of paper and cardboard collected for recycling was already being sent abroad. All the indications are that the recycling position generally, including the recycling of paper and cardboard, will continue to improve as a result of the ongoing implementation of the local and regional waste management plans.