Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the progress made over the past ten years on recycling and other environmental friendly measures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13255/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There has been a marked improvement in recycling performance in Ireland over the past ten years. Government policy on waste management is set out in a suite of policy documents — Changing Our Ways (1998), Delivering Change (2002), Taking Stock and Moving Forward (2004) and the National Strategy on Biodegradable Waste (2006) — published over the course of the past decade. The provision of an expanded network of civic amenity sites and bring banks, the provision of segregated collections for dry recyclables to more households, the roll out of Pay-by-Use and increased awareness through the Race Against Waste have combined to help achieve many national and EU targets for recovery and recycling of municipal waste.

National waste statistics for all waste streams are published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the most recent National Waste Report being in respect of 2005. EPA waste statistics indicate the following progress in waste recovery and recycling in Ireland:

9% of our municipal waste was recycled in 1998; this has risen to 34.6% in 2005, essentially meeting the target of 35% set for 2013 in Changing Our Ways;

59.6% of packaging waste was recycled in 2005, compared with 15% in 1998. This is some 10% in excess of the European Union target set for 2005 and essentially achieves Ireland's 2011 mandatory EU target of 60% six years ahead of schedule;

in 2005, construction and demolition waste recycling exceeded the 2013 target of 85% by 2%;

the quantity of waste deposited at bring banks and civic amenity sites in 2005 grew by 12% and 25% respectively in comparison with 2004;

kerbside collection grew by 46% in 2005 while glass recycling jumped by 9% over the 2004 level to reach 64%;

2.3m items of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) was recycled in the first year of operation of a new Producer Responsibility Initiative and broke the EU target of 4kg per inhabitant by 2.7kg set for 2008;

the numbers of bring banks grew from 837 in 1998 to 1937 in 2005 and the number of civic amenity facilities grew from 30 to 81 over the same period;

since 2002 my Department has allocated almost €100 million in capital grants to assist local authorities in the provision of recycling and recovery services. The projects assisted include bring bank networks, civic amenity sites, materials recovery, composting and biological treatment facilities;

the amount of waste going to landfill has dropped by 8.4% since 2001;

successive National Waste Reports suggest a decoupling of waste generation from economic growth. Since 2001 economic growth has exceeded the rise of waste generation by 5.3%;

a farm plastics recovery scheme operated by the Irish Farm Films Producers Group has made consistent progress since its establishment in 1997 with an estimated 12,500 tonnes collected for recycling in 2005. The arrangements for the scheme were enhanced in 2006 to improve collection and recovery systems, including the operation of local authority bring centres;

the Waste Management (End-of-Life Vehicles) Regulations 2006 governing the recycling of scrap cars were introduced in 2006 and came fully into operation on 1 January 2007. Over 65 authorised treatment facilities are currently permitted by local authorities;

a multi-annual National Waste Prevention Programme was established in 2004 within the EPA. This programme aims to deliver substantive results on waste prevention and minimisation.

a Market Development Group was established in 2004 with the aim of realising the full potential of collected recyclable material by establishing new markets for that material. The Market Development Programme is currently being finalised and will be published shortly.

The Government is determined to drive forward and build on these recycling achievements, supported by appropriate infrastructure to deal with waste that cannot be prevented or recycled. Waste-to-energy treatment can make an environmentally valuable contribution in this context, given requirements on diversion of waste from landfill under the EU Landfill Directive. The National Strategy on Biodegradable Waste, published in April 2006, sets out a series of measures through which these targets can be achieved.

The following table summarises progress towards municipal waste recycling targets in recent years.