Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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An effective basis for addressing our waste management responsibilities has been put in place through my Department's policy statements Changing Our Ways, 1998, Delivering Change, 2002, and Taking Stock and Moving Forward, 2004; through statutory waste management plans, largely prepared on a regional basis; and through the comprehensive regulatory framework now in place for waste. The Government's approach is based on the internationally recognised waste management hierarchy of prevention/minimisation, significantly increased levels of recycling, energy recovery and, finally, utilising landfill as the last resort for residual waste that cannot otherwise be recovered.

National waste statistics in respect of all waste streams are published on an annual basis by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. The latest figures available on municipal waste generation are contained in the National Waste Report 2004, published by the agency last month, which reports that household waste arisings in 2004 were 1,737,416 tonnes, an increase of less than 2% in 2004. Per capita arisings of household waste are estimated by the EPA to have increased by 0.47% in the same period. The Cental Statistics Office, CSO, in its National Income and Expenditure: Annual Results for 2004, July 2005, estimates that gross national product GNP at constant prices grew by 4% in 2004. It is accepted that considerable further progress is required and we are engaged in a series of initiatives to bring further improvements in this area.

A key priority currently is the development and roll out of a national waste prevention programme. A core prevention team was established in 2004 in the Environmental Protection Agency to develop and drive the programme. The core prevention team is in the process of developing baseline studies as part of the initial phase of the programme. The five year programme also envisages mandatory waste and material audits, waste prevention pilot schemes and so forth. The initial budget for the national waste prevention programme is €2 million.

A key component of the waste management system in Ireland has been the development of producer responsibility initiatives. In recent years, successful producer responsibility initiatives have been introduced in the areas of packaging waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment. My Department is currently developing regulations for a further producer responsibility initiative under an EU directive on end-of-life vehicles. These initiatives are based on the promotion of waste prevention and minimisation objectives. Work is also underway in developing producer responsibility initiatives for waste tyres and for newsprint.

Waste prevention and minimisation is also being actively promoted in the Race Against Waste campaign. The Race Against Waste is the most extensive waste information campaign ever run in the country and is now well into its third year. It combines a multi-media national awareness campaign and supporting communications strategy and aims to get people acting to prevent waste.

The media campaign focuses on the prevention of waste and the need to reduce, reuse and recycle and aims to turn awareness on waste issues into action to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill. The communications strategy informs people of the problem and issues, addresses their questions and concerns, and enables them to take ownership of the problem. It provides information about waste management and infrastructure issues, highlights activities at home and at work that contribute to waste and the positive changes that can be made to reduce waste through a series of fact sheets, a website and e-zine, and a lo-call telephone line.

The campaign works closely with environmental awareness officers in all of the local authorities, who work locally with householders, schools, businesses and community groups. It encourages communities to minimise, recycle and compost their waste through the national Tidy Towns competition's Race Against Waste module. A pilot project, Ireland's first "green town", is in operation in Mountmellick, County Laois.

In addition, workshops for youth leaders are organised by Race against Waste to encourage young people to better manage waste. In November 2005, I launched a special a special youth programme and interactive web based resource "Challenge 3600" to engage young adults in the Race against Waste. A national waste prevention programme is currently being prepared as part of year three of the Race against Waste campaign.