Written answers

Thursday, 5 April 2007

Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government

Waste Management

5:00 pm

Photo of Paul KehoePaul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 520: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount of money being made available by his Department to local authorities to cover the cost of the recently announced once off collection of farm plastics; the local authorities to which the payment is being made; the amount each individual local authority is expected to receive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13589/07]

Photo of Dick RocheDick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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To address the issue of accumulated backlogs of farm plastic, designated facilities are being provided on a temporary, once-off basis by local authorities where farmers may deposit stockpiled farm film plastic and silage wrap. These special arrangements operated on a pilot basis in the first instance in counties Clare, Galway, Mayo, Offaly and Waterford during June and July of last year. The service was provided free to the farmer and funding to assist the local authorities is being made available from my Department through the Environment Fund.

The collections were well supported by farmers in the counties participating in the pilot phase, leading to large quantities of plastic being deposited at designated sites. A significant finding from the pilot scheme was that it is not possible to operate collections in a large number of counties at the same time due to capacity constraints on the part of recovery operators. Accordingly, it was necessary to roll out the scheme to other areas on a staggered basis. Arising from a comprehensive examination of the information available, I approved further collections of waste silage / bale wrap in September last by Carlow, Leitrim, Longford, North Tipperary, Roscommon and Wicklow County Councils which concluded in January of this year.

An estimated 9,300 tonnes of farm plastics were recovered by the five local authorities that participated in the initial phase of the pilot scheme. The cost associated with the collection and recovery of this plastic amounted to circa €1.8 million of which €312,712 has been recouped by two of the local authorities to date. A further 6,100 tonnes was estimated to have been collected for recycling by the six local authorities operating the second phase of the scheme at an approximate cost of €1.4 million.

Following a review of the outcome of the second round of collections, I have recently announced that collections of waste silage / bale wrap will now be put in place in the remaining 18 county council areas over the next 6 months. When the final phase is completed, collections will have taken place in all 29 county council areas. This arrangement allows for phased collections while at the same time creating certainty in the minds of farmers as to when their backlog will be cleared. It also allows local authorities and local farming organisations sufficient notice to agree and put in place the necessary arrangements for collections in their areas.

The collections will now be rolled out as follows:

DatesCounties
Phase OneMarch/April 2007Donegal, Cork (West), Cavan, Sligo, Kilkenny, South Tipperary, Meath
Phase TwoJune/July 2007Kerry, Limerick, Cork (East), Westmeath, Monaghan, Wexford, Laois
Phase ThreeSeptember/October 2007Fingal, South Dublin, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Kildare, Louth

The costs incurred by the local authorities arising from the operation of these special once-off farm plastics collection and recovery arrangements will be met by my Department from the Environment Fund.

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