Gerard Murphy (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the results of the promised thorough evaluation of the current levels of environmental management charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9473/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I assume that the question refers to environmental management costs or EMCs that retailers display when selling electrical and electronic equipment.

The EMCs currently applied show the costs of recycling based on data submitted by producers to the WEEE Register Society Limited, the industry-based national WEEE registration body, which has an independent committee of management. The WEEE register assessed and approved the EMCs. The EMCs are currently under review and it will be for the WEEE register to validate any revisions. My Department has no function in this regard.

The WEEE scheme has now been operating for six months and the real benefits of this new system for consumers and the environment are becoming apparent. WEEE is now being collected from over 180 collection points nationwide. Early indications are that significant quantities of this waste type are being returned for recycling. In the first 12 weeks alone 4,800 tonnes, equivalent to an annual rate of almost 20,000 tonnes, of household WEEE was collected. This points to a fourfold increase in the recycling of household WEEE as 5,510 tonnes of this waste type was recovered in 2004, and indicates widespread public support for the implementation of the directive.

The implementation of the directive has not had any negative impact on the consumer price index. This is confirmed by the CSO which recently reported that prices of major household appliances have decreased by 1.3% in the last 12 months and prices of small electrical household appliances have decreased by 0.5% over the same period.