Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 559: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 905 of 17 June 2008, the way he can issue statistics regarding targets under the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2007 in view of the fact that the information regarding the number of major producers that comply with their producer responsibility obligations under the self-compliance method and the amount of waste dealt with through this system is not available in his Department and is only held by local authorities; his views on whether his Department should have access to this information; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25321/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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National waste statistics for all waste streams, including packaging waste, are independently produced and published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). National Waste Reports have been published in respect of the years 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2006 with interim reports published for 2002, 2003 and 2005 respectively.

In the case of packaging waste specifically, national statistics are compiled by combining information about packaging waste obtained through audited surveys of local authorities, recycling organisations, landfill annual environmental reports, industry and the application of composition factors derived from municipal waste characterisation surveys. In addition, the EPA liaises with Repak on an ongoing basis to cross-check the reported recovery of packaging waste collected in Ireland for the purposes of recovery.

Notwithstanding the position as set out above, Ireland is required under Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste to report in a prescribed format to the European Commission on an annual basis in relation to the recovery and recycling of packaging waste in Ireland. Data in the prescribed format are submitted each year by my Department to the appropriate authorities in the Commission — the statistical data in Ireland's annual packaging reports are provided by the EPA and are derived, in the main, from that published in the associated National Waste Report.