Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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743. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the revenue received in tabular form from the plastic bag levy since its inception. [34292/13]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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844. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide in tabular format the levy rate and amounts generated by the plastic bag levy per annum since its introduction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35484/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 743 and 844 together.

The plastic bag levy is first and foremost an economic instrument , which has as its objective the encouragement of more environmentally sustainable behaviour. In particular, the levy was introduced as an anti-litter measure designed to influence consumers by encouraging them to reduce their use of disposable plastic bags.

Section 72 of the Waste Management Act 1996, as inserted by s ection 9 of the Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2001 , provided for the introduction of a plastic bag levy. The Waste Management (Environmental Levy)(Plastic Bag) Order 2007 and the Waste Management (Environmental Levy) (Plastic Bag) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2007 allowed for the levy to be increased from its previous level of 15 cent per bag to 22 cent per bag from 1 July 2007.

The introduction of the levy in March 2002 led to a dramatic reduction in the number of disposable plastic bags supplied to consumers, from an estimated 328 bags per person per year prior to the introduction of the levy, to 21 bags per person by the end of 2002 and a further reduction to an estimated 14 bags per person by the end of 2012.

The National Litter Pollution Monitoring System is used to measure the impact of the plastic bag levy on an ongoing basis and my Department also monitors the receipts from the plastic bag levy to monitor trends in the average per capita consumption of plastic bags. These data are used to ensure that the plastic bag levy is set at an appropriate level. The National Litter Pollution Monitoring System Report 2012 report s that plastic bags constituted 0.30 % of litter arising in 2012 . This compares with 5% prior to the levy’s introduction.

Receipts from the plastic b ag l evy for each year are published in the Environment Fund Annual Accounts . Copies of the Annual Accounts up to and including 20 11 are available on my Department’s website (www.environ.ie ). The 2012 Annual Accounts will be published on my Department’s website in due course after they have been audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Details of the amounts received for each year since the levy’s introduction in March 2002 and the rate of the levy for each year are set out in the table below.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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744. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the projected revenue obtained from an increase in the plastic bag levy to 25c and 30c respectively. [34293/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The plastic bag levy is first and foremost an economic instrument, which has as its objective the encouragement of more environmentally sustainable behaviour. In particular, the levy was introduced as an anti-litter measure designed to influence consumers by encouraging them to reduce their use of disposable plastic bags. Therefore, the revenue to be obtained from the increases referred to in the question would be dependent on consumer behaviour in response to any such increase.