Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 133: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when legislation will be enacted to regulate the metal recycling industry, in view of the increase in scrap metal theft; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29171/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the increased incidence of metal theft, which is a matter for the Garda in the first instance. Waste disposal and recovery activities in Ireland are required to hold an authorisation in accordance with the Waste Management Act 1996. Depending on the authorisation required, these activities are controlled either by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in the case of higher risk facilities and larger scale activities, or by local authorities, and a variety of regulations exist including waste stream specific regulations for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and End of Life Vehicles (ELVs).

The problem of large numbers of unauthorised ELV sites is high on the list of enforcement priorities and the Office of Environmental Enforcement – through its Enforcement Network of local authorities and other key agencies – is coordinating actions to deal with this problem. This has resulted in a significant decline in unauthorised facilities from over 300 in December 2008 to less than 50 currently, and I expect that a continued concerted multi-agency approach to enforcement will see this number decline further over the coming months. I am satisfied that all possible steps are being taken to address the issue and that existing powers in that regard are adequate to deal with the problem.

I am also aware of increased instances of unauthorised Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and End of Life Vehicles (ELVs) collections. Inadequately treated e-waste poses very significant environmental and health risks. Under the WEEE Regulations, retailers are obliged to take back WEEE from householders free of charge on a one-for-one like-for-like basis and members of the public can deposit household WEEE free of charge at local authority civic amenity facilities. All household WEEE deposited at retailers and civic amenity facilities is collected and recycled by two approved collective compliance schemes, WEEE Ireland and the European Recycling Platform (ERP), and is treated in the appropriate manner.

Where the registered owner of a specified vehicle intends to discard that vehicle as waste, the End of Life Vehicle Regulations place an obligation on the owner to deposit that vehicle at an authorised treatment facility for appropriate treatment and recovery. This service is free of charge to members of the public and only authorised treatment facilities can issue a Certificate of Destruction. The Regulations also impose improved environmental standards to ensure that when a vehicle is scrapped, as much material as possible is recovered and recycled and that it takes place in a way that does not harm the environment.

In addition, in a drive to boost recycling markets, the European Union has adopted quality criteria for iron, steel and aluminium scrap, with similar rules in the pipeline for other materials such as copper. Council Regulation (EU) No 333/2011, which came into operation on 9 October 2011, sets out conditions to be fulfilled for each scrap material before it can be freely traded within the EU's internal market. Iron, steel and aluminium scrap should be sufficiently pure and meet the relevant scrap standards or specifications required by the metal producing industry. The new regulation is expected to create legal certainty and a level playing field for the recycling industry, and remove administrative burdens for the recycling sector by releasing safe and clean secondary raw materials from the scope of waste legislation.