Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 653: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if, in view of the number of drinking cans and bottles left on the River Dargle in Bray, County Wicklow after St. Patrick's Day 2007, he will introduce a refundable deposit on all cans, plastic containers and glass bottles as is the case in many other EU countries which obliges the retailers and manufacturers to recycle them appropriately; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12372/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has an excellent record in recovering and recycling packaging waste. Directive 94/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on packaging and packaging waste is based on the concept of producer responsibility, which effectively requires producers to contribute to the waste management costs of products which they have placed on the market at end-of-life. Under the Directive, Ireland was required to achieve a 25% recovery rate of packaging waste by 1 July 2001, increasing to a 50% recovery rate by 31 December 2005. Practical implementation of the Directive in Ireland is organised mainly through a collective industry-based compliance scheme operated by Repak Limited which is working successfully.

The EPA has reported in its National Waste Report 2005 — published in January 2007 — that packaging waste recovery increased to 59.6% in that year, indicating that Ireland exceeded its 50% end 2005 target by 10% and has, in effect, reached the new 2011 target. This compares with a recovery rate of 14.8% in 1998. In addition, the 2005 Report indicates that Ireland is achieving specific recovery targets for different materials used in packaging.

Successful deposit and refund schemes operating internationally are generally located in those countries where there has been no break in the continuity and cultural tradition of deposit and refund arrangements. This is not the case in Ireland and there would now quite likely be significant costs involved in re-establishing deposit and refund arrangements here. Account would also have to be taken of the possible impact on existing compliance arrangements. Given that these arrangements are rapidly achieving the desired result in relation to meeting the recycling targets, the introduction of deposit and refund schemes is not under consideration.

Notwithstanding the above, the Government has adopted a range of measures to prevent and reduce littering. The Government launched its Litter Action Plan, as the national anti-litter strategy, in February 2001. The Plan is based on extensive consultation with the public and private sectors, and, in particular, places emphasis on broadly based local partnerships involving local authorities, businesses, commercial interests, residents associations and schools.

While the primary responsibility for management of and enforcement responses to litter pollution, generally, lies with the local authorities, the Plan recognises that local authorities working alone will not solve our litter problems. My Department funds and is actively involved in a number of anti-litter initiatives that support local authority efforts and raise awareness of the problem of litter pollution. These initiatives include National Spring Clean, Tidy Towns, the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) League, and annual grants to local authorities for community based awareness measures.

My Department funds the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System, which measures the extent of litter pollution in each local authority area. The data provided by the surveys further enables each local authority to assess the effectiveness of its litter management and ensure the optimum allocation of its resources to tackle litter.

Data provided by the System shows that nationally, year-on-year since 2003, there is a slight but steady increase in litter-free areas and the number of litter black-spots is declining. The emerging pattern is of a gradual but steady improvement in the extent of litter pollution countrywide. This positive data is supported by the findings of the IBAL League, which shows that cleanliness levels are improving generally in the towns participating in the League.