Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 907: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the situation regarding the operation of the scheme for collection of farm plastics; the costs involved in this scheme; his views on the fact that farmers are being asked to pay at the point of collection for this service when they have previously paid a levy when they are purchasing their plastics; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27093/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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A successful Producer Responsibility Initiative has been in operation since mid 1997 in relation to farm film/silage bale wrap. Producers — i.e. manufacturers and importers of farm film/bale wrap — pay a levy of €127 per tonne of farm plastic placed on the market to a compliance scheme, the Irish Farm Films Producers Group (IFFPG), who in turn are required to meet targets for the recovery and recycling of farm plastics. IFFPG estimate that over 80,000 tonnes of farm plastics were collected for recycling since its inception in mid 1997.

In the period up to 2005, demand for the service provided by IFFPG grew to exceed the capacity of the scheme. Consideration was given by my Department in early 2006, in consultation with various stakeholders including farming organisations, to various mechanisms to address the need to ensure that sufficient resources were available to the scheme to meet future demand for collections while at the same time dealing fairly with accumulations of farm plastics on farms across the country.

Following these consultations, my predecessor announced in May 2006 that IFFPG could derive an additional income from weight-based collection charges. This was aimed at improving the operational efficiency of the scheme by incentivising the presentation of clean, dry plastic by farmers. The effect of the introduction of a charge has been to ensure that supply of collections of farm plastics to farmers can match demand on an ongoing basis and to improve the quality of the material being collected. In addition, IFFPG have also introduced a labelling system to improve traceability of levied plastic which in turn will support compliance with the Waste Management (Farm Plastics) Regulations 2001.

In order to address the issue of accumulated backlogs of farm plastic on farms in 2005, designated facilities were provided on a temporary basis by local authorities where farmers could deposit stockpiled farm plastic free of charge. These once-off free collections allowed farmers the opportunity to deposit any accumulated plastic purchased under the terms of the original scheme, which was based upon free farm-to-farm collections. In total, some 35,000 tonnes of materials were collected at these temporary facilities over the period 2006 to 2007.

The operation of temporary bring facilities has proved popular with farmers and earlier this year, in consultation with the Irish Farmers' Association, the IFFPG developed a calendar of some 130 collections nationwide where farmers could deposit bale wrap and silage wrap. These collections have now commenced, will run through to the autumn and are based on weight-based charges.

Farmers who produce the aforesaid labels indicating that levied plastic is being presented for recycling will avail of a substantially reduced collection fee by virtue of the fact that the producer levy is being used to subsidise all legitimately declared farm plastic. Farmyard collections are still available from IFFPG but as they are more expensive to operate, they involve a higher charge. Information on the dates, locations and fees for collections are available on IFFPG's website, www.farmplastics.ie.