Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 584: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the details of the latest contract entered into by his Department and local authorities with a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14002/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste (as amended by as amended by Directive 2004/12/EC) is based on the principle of producer responsibility, which is intended to require producers to contribute to the waste management costs at end-of-life of products which they have placed on the market. 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 and to 50% by 2011. The Directive is transposed into national legislation by the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2003 (as amended in 2004 and 2006) which replaced earlier regulations introduced in 1997.

Under the regulations, 'major producers' of packaging waste — i.e. manufacturers, importers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers (representing all participants in the packaging chain) who place more than 25 tonnes of packaging on the market each year and who have an annual turnover exceeding €1m excluding VAT — are required to take steps individually to recover their packaging waste (i.e. self-compliance) or alternatively to contribute to, and participate in, compliance schemes set up to recover packaging waste. Repak Limited was established by Irish industry in 1997 to promote, co-ordinate and finance the collection and recovery of packaging waste with a view to achieving Ireland's packaging waste recovery and recycling targets under the Directive and is the only such approved compliance scheme in Ireland. Repak membership income is used to subsidise the collection of packaging waste from both the household and commercial sectors. In the household sector, subsidy is provided towards the collection of packaging waste from bring banks and civic amenity recycling centres, as well as segregated kerbside collection of packaging waste from households.

Repak have reported consistent progress since 1997 and in 2001 Ireland met the 25% packaging waste recovery target required by the Directive. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported in the National Waste Report 2005, published in January 2007, that Ireland exceeded the recovery and recycling targets for end 2005 by some 10%. The number of tonnes of packaging waste recovered in 1998 was 93,259. This increased six-fold to 554,632 in 2005. The number of households served by segregated collection grew from 70,000 in 1998 to over 560,000 by 2003. In the period 1998 to 2005, the number of bring banks grew from 837 to 1,937 while the number of civic amenity sites grew from 30 to 81.

Last Autumn, Repak agreed with local authorities increased subsidy rates for the next five years. This will give certainty to everyone involved — Repak, members of the compliance scheme, local authorities and waste operators – in relation to the level of resources that are available to support recycling over the period leading up to the 2011 deadline for meeting Ireland's latest recycling target. While the Department facilitated discussions between the local authorise and Repak on this matter, it is not a party to the agreement.

Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 585: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the action which is being taken regarding products returned for recycling under the WEEE regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14003/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The WEEE scheme came into effect in August 2005 and has been a remarkable success.

In the first 12 months of operation, 27,700 tonnes of household WEEE was collected. This represents approximately 2.3 million electrical and electronic products or 6.7kg per inhabitant, surpassing the EU target of 4kg per person set for the end of 2008. This contrasts to the 5,510 tonnes of this waste type which was recovered in 2004 and indicates widespread public support for the scheme.

Under the terms of the WEEE Directive, financing the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment is solely a producer responsibility. Two collective compliance schemes, functioning under the responsibility of producers, are operating in Ireland. These compliance schemes, WEEE Ireland and the European Recycling Platform, are responsible for the recycling of all household WEEE deposited at designated collection points. These include civic amenity facilities and retail outlets.

The compliance schemes are also responsible for ensuring that recovered WEEE is recycled in an environmentally sound manner and for putting in place tracking and auditing systems for materials recovery in line with the requirements of the Directive.

An increasing proportion of this WEEE is now recycled in Ireland following the establishment of three new WEEE recycling and treatment facilities since August 2005.