Derek Keating (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Question 361: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that 4 million tyres are used every year here and the producer responsibility initiative for end of life tyres is a voluntary code and that those who are disposing of tyres are not registered and not regulated; his views on the need for legislation to address this environmental problem [25037/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Information on tyre flows and the management of waste tyres has long been regarded as inadequate. The Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) Regulations 2007 were designed to tackle this deficit and put in place a proper regulatory framework. These regulations facilitate the comparison of quantities of waste tyres arising with the amounts placed on the market and the tracking of the movement of waste tyres from their discarding until they are either reused or processed for recycling. The Regulations impose obligations on persons who supply tyres to the Irish market, whether as producers (e.g. manufacturers, importers including wholesalers, traders and retailers who source tyres outside the State), or suppliers (e.g. wholesalers, traders and retailers who source tyres exclusively within the State), and on the collectors of waste tyres. Economic operators have the option of either self-complying with the regulations or participating in an approved industry compliance scheme which takes on the administrative burden associated with self-compliance. Self-complying economic operators are required to register with local authorities and submit information on tyre and waste tyre flows in each quarterly period to the relevant local authorities. Participants in an approved collective compliance scheme must also submit information on tyre and waste tyre flows in each quarterly period to the scheme concerned. I have approved two collective compliance schemes, Tyre Recovery Activity Compliance Scheme Ltd. (TRACS) and Tyre Waste Management Ltd. (TWM) to operate as approved bodies under the regulations. The Programme for Government makes a commitment to drive a waste reduction programme through the extension of Producer Responsibility initiatives and, in that context, my Department will shortly be conducting a review of all aspects of the producer responsibility schemes. The results of this review will help determine whether TRACS and TWM have been operating satisfactorily. It will also assist in determining whether a system that tracks products from the time they are placed on the market until they reach end of life is effective in keeping waste tyres out of the reach of unauthorised operators, or whether it would be more effective to require producers to take direct responsibility for the environmentally sound management of waste tyres.