Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 1105: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the initiatives he plans to establish to expand the network of bottle banks and recycling centres here. [19972/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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In the last three years my Department has allocated over €100m in funding to more than 100 local authority recycling projects. An additional €3.3m has been allocated to local authorities for the provision of bring bank networks across the country. Under the National Development Plan 2007-2013 some €753 million will be invested in supporting the recycling and recovery effort and dealing with the problem of legacy landfills, including a specific provision to expand the network of bottle banks and recycling facilities. It is a matter for local authorities, in the context of their statutory waste management planning responsibilities, to identify particular needs in specific areas and submit proposals to my Department for grant assistance.

In the context of the international review of waste management plans, practices and procedures provided for in the Programme for Government consideration will be given to how best to further accelerate the already very successful national effort towards ambitious recycling targets and thus to contribute to significantly increased diversion of waste from landfill.