John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 191: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the measures currently in place to gather and recover chlorofluorocarbons from discarded fridges and freezers in the State; the amount of CFCs recovered in each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16511/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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EU Regulation 2037/2000 on ozone depleting substances requires, inter alia, the recovery and destruction of CFCs from all refrigeration equipment, including domestic fridges and freezers, and the putting in place of detailed reporting arrangements on this. For reasons set out in the reply to Question No. 164 on today's Order Paper, Ireland has not as yet completed the administrative arrangements which are necessary for the implementation of this regulation and it is not, therefore, possible to provide a comprehensive report on the recovery of CFCs from all such equipment. Arrangements for the full implementation of the regulation are being progressed by my Department in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency.

As regards domestic fridges and freezers, however, an all-island initiative for the recycling of domestic fridges and freezers was commenced in February 2004. This was developed by my Department in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and in co-operation with local authorities on both sides of the Border. The scheme, in which 32 local authorities and 26 district councils are participating, involves the collection and recycling of waste fridges and freezers and the destruction of ozone depleting substances. Over 5,500 kg of CFCs were recovered in 2004 from fridges and freezers collected in the South as part of the scheme and the equivalent figure to date in 2005 is almost 1,800 kg. The contract period for the scheme in the South will end on the 12 August 2005 coinciding with the coming into operation of EU Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment, which will be implemented in full from 13 August 2005. From that date, the costs of the collection, treatment, recovery and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment including waste fridges and freezers will be a producer responsibility.