Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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180. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will meet with an organisation (details supplied). [8469/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The European Union (Household Food Waste and Bio-Waste) Regulations 2013 build on the commercial food waste regulations introduced in 2009, and are being implemented on a phased basis, beginning with population centres greater than 25,000 people. These Regulations are designed to promote the segregation and recovery of household food waste, in line with the national policy and the Waste Framework Directive objectives of maximising the resource which can be extracted from waste and minimising the disposal of waste.There are positive indications that the implementation and enforcement of these Regulations is resulting in more food waste being diverted from landfill. The Environmental Protection Agency recently published Compost and Anerobic Digestion (AD) Statistics for 2013 which highlighted the following trends:

- The quantity of municipal organic waste accepted for treatment at composting facilities was 158 ktonnes in 2013, a 3% increase from 154 ktonnes in 2012;

- The quantity of food waste accepted at composting and AD facilities in 2013 was up 8% (from 105 ktonnes in 2012 to 114 ktonnes in 2013);

- The quantity of brown bin organic waste (food and garden waste) accepted at anaerobic digestion facilities increased from 0.7 ktonnes in 2010 to 7.7 ktonnes in 2013.

The successful roll-out of the brown bin is dependent on appropriate education and awareness measures being introduced to support households in using the brown bin correctly. In this regard, my Department has supported the organisation referred to through conference sponsorship and grants to fund food waste awareness campaigns. Support has also been provided to the organisation to develop a website, , to provide the public with the information required to use the brown bin appropriately, including advice on the optimal methods for effective collection and storage of food waste.

Further funding has been provided to conduct a review of best international practice on how to educate households on using the brown bin correctly and in implementing a pilot project on the use of brown bin advisors, a key recommendation of the review. The aim of this project is to assess how a range of educational and collection tools can improve the capture and quality of food waste in the brown bin.

This interaction demonstrates the continued close working relationship which exists between my Department and the organisation concerned. I am prepared to continue to support initiatives such as those outlined which assist the public in the diversion of their food waste towards more beneficial uses and to continue working with organisations that are active in developing measures that will increase the amount of food waste that is recovered through the production of energy, compost and digestate, thereby creating opportunities for added jobs and value.

Any requests from the organisation concerned for a meeting, either at Ministerial or Departmental level, will be considered, having regard to, inter alia, the suggested agenda and diary pressures.