Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 89: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding the development of recycling facilities here over the past ten years; the increase there has been in recycling rates in the same period; if the progress made has reached targets set; the role his Department is playing in facilitating recycling; his plans for further development of recycling in the years ahead; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42628/06]

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 125: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will report on progress made on increasing recycling rates here over the past ten years; the support that has been provided by his Department over that period to support recycling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42518/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 89 and 125 together.

There has been a radical transformation in recycling rates in Ireland in the last ten years. Recycling is a significant element of the Government's overall integrated policy framework on waste management — which is based on the internationally recognised waste hierarchy — prioritising waste prevention, minimisation, reuse, recycling, energy recovery and the environmentally sound disposal of residual waste which cannot be recycled or recovered.

This significant emphasis on recycling is reflected in the 1998 policy statement Changing Our Ways which provided a national policy framework for the adoption and implementation by local authorities of strategic waste management plans under which specific national objectives and targets would be achieved. Specifically, Changing our Ways set ambitious recycling targets to be achieved over a fifteen year timescale — i.e. by 2013 — including a recycling target of 35% of municipal waste recycling. Government policy on recycling was further elaborated in the policy statements Delivering Change in 2002 and Taking Stock and Moving Forward in 2004.

The following table sets out the targets for recycling and associated deadlines and progress achieved in recent years.

This table is based on national waste statistics, collated and published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The dramatic increases in recycling rates for household waste have been driven by successful Government policies including:

the provision of segregated collections for dry recyclables to over 540,000 households by 2003;

the continued expansion of the numbers of bring facilities. Since 2002, some €90 million has been allocated to assist local authorities in the provision of greatly expanded recycling facilities. This has facilitated an increase in Bring Banks from 837 in 1998 to 1,929 in 2004 and in Civic Amenity sites form 30 in 1998 to 69 in 2004. In 2006, additional Exchequer funding of €10m has also for the first time been made available. This reflects the importance which the Government attaches to supporting local authorities in the provision of these very important facilities;

the roll out of pay-by-use by public and private sector waste operators in recent years; and

raising awareness through campaigns such as the Race Against Waste.

In order to provide further impetus in this area, a range of further measures have also been, or are in the process of being, undertaken:

successful producer responsibility initiatives are in place to support the achievement of recycling targets for certain waste materials e.g the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) scheme introduced in August 2005 has lead to a five-fold increase in recycling of this waste stream while the European Union 2005 target of 50% recovery rate for packaging waste was exceeded in 2003 and reached 56.4% in 2004;

the National Strategy on Biodegradable Waste was published in April 2006. In 2004, almost three quarters of municipal (household and commercial) waste sent to landfill was biodegradable. The Strategy sets out measures aimed at the separate collection, recovery and recycling of biodegradable waste with a view to achieving the progressive diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill by 2016 to 35% of the amount of biodegradable municipal waste generated in the baseline year of 1995; and

the Market Development Group was established in 2004 to oversee the development of a Market Development Programme which will identify new applications and markets for recyclable material and secondary recycled products. The Group has been asked to identify barriers to the use and marketing of recyclable material and to develop strategies to address these. The Market Development Programme is being finalised at present for publication early in the New Year.

I am confident on the basis of the strong track record in improving recycling in recent years, the sound polices policies put in place by the Government and the enthusiasm of the general public for recycling that Ireland will enjoy continued success in meeting the targets set out in Changing Our Ways.