Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 854: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on introducing legislation to incentivise the public to return glass bottles to local shops; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11186/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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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 original 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 2007 states that packaging waste recovery increased to 63.6% in that year, exceeding the target of 60% to be achieved by 2011, set by Directive 2004/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Packaging Directive. The recovery rate for glass packaging in 2007 was 75.5%.

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 initiated in July 2008. 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 is also looking at the desirability of other producer responsibility schemes, including deposit and refund for beverage containers.