Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 25: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has plans to reduce waste from packaging; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8204/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Ireland has a successful track record in packaging waste recycling. Under the EU Packaging 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. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported in its National Waste Report 2006 — published in January 2008 — that packaging waste recovery stood at 57.3% in that year, indicating that Ireland continues to exceed the current recovery target of 50% set by the Packaging Directive and is well on the way to achieving the new 60% target by end 2011.

A National Strategy Group on Packaging Waste Recycling — which is co-chaired by my Department and Repak and involves key public and private sector stakeholders — was established in late 2004 to develop a packaging waste strategy for the period to 2011. Measures aimed at reducing the amount of packaging waste arising through prevention and minimisation will form an integral part of the Strategy which will be published later this year.

In October 2007, I challenged the packaging industry to develop appropriate measures to promote packaging waste prevention and minimisation similar to the Courtauld Commitment in the UK. The Courtauld Commitment is an agreement between the UK's Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and major grocery retailers in the UK with the aim of reducing packaging waste.

In response to this challenge, many of the major Irish retailers have given a commitment to work with their suppliers to reduce the amount of packaging used in their stores and have agreed to set a timeframe to accomplish these reductions. Retail Ireland and Repak Limited, who are co-ordinating this initiative, envisage that a voluntary agreement covering a three to five year horizon will be developed and signed off in the latter part of 2008.