Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 647: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of companies or organisations which have applied to become approved bodies under sections 16 and 17 of Part IV of the Waste Management Act 1996 (Packaging) Regulations 1997-2003. [30574/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste is premised on the principle of producer responsibility which requires waste producers to contribute to the waste management costs of products which they have placed on the market at end-of-life. Practical implementation of the directive in Ireland is by way of a producer responsibility initiative, underpinned by the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2003, as amended, which replaced earlier regulations introduced in 1997. These regulations provide the necessary legal framework to facilitate the recovery and recycling of packaging waste in Ireland.

Under the 2003 packaging regulations, all producers participating in the placing of packaging on the Irish market must segregate the packaging waste arising on their own premises into specified waste streams and have it collected for recycling by authorised recovery operators. In addition, major producers, that is, those who have an annual turnover in excess of €1 million and who place more than 25 tonnes of packaging on the Irish market have additional responsibilities with regard to the recovery of packaging waste from their customers.

Major producers have the option of either complying directly with their producer responsibility obligations, that is, self-compliance, or alternatively, getting an exemption from those requirements by becoming a member of a packaging waste compliance scheme. Repak Limited, established by domestic industry in 1997 to promote, co-ordinate and finance the collection and recovery of packaging waste with a view to achieving Ireland's packaging waste recovery and recycling targets under Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, is the sole approved compliance scheme for the recovery of packaging waste in Ireland. Approval issued to Repak Limited under article 15 of the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 1997. No formal applications were received under article 14 of the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 1997 from companies seeking approved body status to operate a packaging waste recovery scheme nor have formal applications been received under the article 16 of the current Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2003, as amended.