John Dennehy (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 591: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has satisfied himself with the level of recycling of household waste being achieved in the State; the regional variations in this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24854/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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National waste statistics for all waste streams are published at three-yearly intervals by the Environmental Protection Agency with the most recent National Waste Report being in respect of 2004. Between 2001 and 2004, two interim database reports have been published to provide data on municipal waste specifically (i.e. household and commercial waste) for the years 2002 and 2003 respectively. While the database reports do not provide recycling rates for individual local authorities or on a regional basis, an overall recycling figure for Ireland is provided for in respect of a number of waste streams.

The recent National Waste Report 2004 shows that 33.6% of municipal (household and commercial) waste generated in that year was recovered. This continues a very positive trend — equivalent rates were 28.4% for 2003, 20.7% for 2002 and only 9% in 1998 — and shows that we have almost reached the 35% national recycling target set for 2013. The national recovery rate for the household component of municipal waste in 2004 was 19.5%. This represents an improvement over the 13.1% household waste recovery reported for 2003, 9.3% achieved in 2002, and 3.2% in 1998, and demonstrates further progress towards the achievement of the 50% household waste landfill diversion rate by 2013. For the third consecutive year, the reported quantity of household waste sent to landfill has decreased indicating that the trend is moving in the right direction.

A key development in waste management in Ireland has been the mobilisation of producer responsibility initiatives. Successful initiatives of this kind have been introduced in the areas of packaging waste and waste electrical and electronic equipment, both of which have diverted significant volumes of these materials from landfill since their introduction. In 2004, packaging waste recovery increased to 56.4% indicating that Ireland exceeded its 50% end 2005 target required under the EU Directive on packaging and packaging waste one year ahead of schedule. I recently signed regulations implementing a further producer responsibility initiative in relation to an EU Directive on end-of-life vehicles and work is underway in developing further initiatives for waste tyres.