Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 178: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the plans he has to encourage or compel local authorities whose recycling rates are below the national target, to extend their kerbside collection of dry recyclables. [30911/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Environmental Protection Agency's National Waste Reports do not give breakdowns of recycling rates on a local authority basis. The recently published Third Report of the Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government on Recycling of Household Waste in Ireland and Service Indicators in Local Authorities 2005 published last July by the Local Government Management Services Board, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas library, contain certain information on recycling activity in some or all city and county council areas. However, population and geographic variations between local authority areas make comparisons difficult.

Local authorities have regard to national recycling targets when adopting Regional Waste Management Plans. The Government's policy document on recycling Delivering Change acknowledged that local authorities' Plans generally provide for segregated collections for dry recyclables in all urban areas where it is economically feasible.

My Department is continuing to provide support to local authorities as part of an overall waste management policy that has seen dramatic improvements in waste management performance in recent years as evidenced by increases in national recycling rates to over 34%: doubling the number of bring banks over the period from 1998 to 2004, rising from 837 to 1,929; increasing the number of recycling centres substantially from 30 to 69 over the same period; an increase in the diversion of household waste from landfill from 37,000 tonnes in 1998 to almost 300,000 tonnes, in 2004; the roll-out of segregated collection of recyclables which grew from 70,000 households in 1998 to over 560,000 by 2003 and is continuing to rise; 56% of packaging waste (bottles, cans, cardboard etc) recycled in 2004, one year ahead of the 50% target required under EU Law, up from 15% in 1998; and the EPA estimate that 85.2% of construction and demolition waste was recycled in 2004.