Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 1334: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has quantified the volume of plastic bottles going to landfill; if he plans to introduce a levy similar to the plastic bag levy to help reduce the impact of such waste; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1310/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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There is no specific information available to my Department on the volume of plastic bottles sent to landfill. All beverage containers, including plastic bottles, are packaging. National waste statistics for all waste streams, including packaging, are published by the EPA with the most recent being the National Waste Report 2006, published yesterday. Directive 94/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on packaging and packaging waste (the Packaging Directive) 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 National Waste Report 2006 states that packaging waste recovery increased to 57.3% in that year, indicating that Ireland continues to exceed the current target recovery rate of 50% set by the Packaging Directive. This compares with a recovery rate of 14.8% in 1998. Directive 2004/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Packaging Directive introduces a new increased packaging waste recovery target of 60% (with 55% by way of recycling) as well as material specific recycling targets for glass, paper/board, metals, plastics and wood. These targets, including the plastic packaging recovery target of 22.5%, have to be achieved by Ireland by 2011. The recovery rate for plastic packaging in 2006 was 20.7%.

I fully recognise that despite progress on recycling we need to continue to improve our performance. The Programme for Government commits us to a comprehensive review of waste management planning, which I have directed my Department to initiate. This review will ensure that our waste management plans reflect best international practice and that we have the policies and infrastructure to meet ambitious environmental objectives. The review will also look at the desirability of other producer responsibility schemes, including deposit and refund for beverage containers.

In the interim, I have recently challenged industry to develop appropriate measures to address packaging waste litter, in particular in relation to beverage containers. At present, the arrangements for recovering packaging waste from consumers and householders consist principally of segregated collections for dry recyclables and an extensive network of bring banks and civic amenity sites. My Department will continue to discuss these issues in the context of finalising a four-year strategy for the packaging waste sector which is currently being developed under the aegis of the National Strategy Group on Packaging Waste Recycling which is representative of the relevant public and private sector stakeholders.