Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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Question 197: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the grants available for organisations to remove disused or obsolete medical equipment from the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20424/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Medical equipment, with the exception of implanted or infected medical devices, relying for its functioning on a source of electrical energy or any source of power, other than that directly generated by the human body or gravity, at end of life is categorised as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and is subject to the provisions of the Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations 2005, as amended. Under the terms of the WEEE Regulations, financing the environmentally sound management, including recycling, of waste electrical and electronic equipment is solely a producer responsibility.

There are no grants available from my Department for organisations to remove disused or obsolete medical equipment. Where an end-user of obsolete medical equipment under the scope of the WEEE Regulations is replacing it with new equipment, the producer of the new equipment must provide free take back for the end-of-life equipment, and finance its environmentally sound management as WEEE. This requirement stands irrespective of the brand of the old equipment or the brand of the new equipment being supplied. In the case of such replacements, it also does not matter when the old equipment was originally placed on the market.

There may be situations where a final end-user of the equipment may wish to discard it and not replace it with new equipment. In such situations, the final end-user is responsible for ensuring that the end-of-life equipment is managed properly as WEEE, where the equipment was originally placed on the market before 13 August 2005. My Department does not have a role in regard to the disposal of non-electrical or non-electronic medical equipment.