Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 25158/11, if he will provide an update on the possibility of a glass bottle deposit scheme, which he has said would be considered as part of a review of packaging. [55300/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government contains a commitment to drive a waste reduction programme as part of the overall policy in the area of sustainable waste management.

A review of the Producer Responsibility Initiative model in Ireland is ongoing at present. The aim of the review is to assess the nature and level of the challenges which are currently facing the existing Producer Responsibility agreements, as well as the challenges that are expected to arise in the management of various waste streams in the future. It is anticipated that the findings and recommendations from the review will form the basis for the development of policy initiatives that will enable Ireland to operate successfully in meeting our domestic and EU obligations in the medium to long term.

In respect of the review of the packaging module, specifically, the review will include, inter alia, an examination of initiatives such as deposit and refund and reverse vending for bottles or other beverage containers. It is expected that my Department will receive the final report on the review in the first quarter of 2013.