Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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192. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding the cost of tyres; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17088/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Producer Responsibility Initiative (PRI) review report on Tyres and Waste Tyres published by my Department last year concluded that the current system for dealing with waste tyres is not functioning as intended, with a lack of basic information, poor structure, poor environmental outcomes in the form of large stockpiles of waste tyresand somewhere between 24% - 50% of waste tyresunaccounted for. The report also identified significant non-compliance among those with responsibilities under the current Waste Tyre Regulations.

In February 2015, I announced a move to a full Producer Responsibility Initiative (PRI) for tyres which will aim to rectify the deficiencies which have been identified in the current system. The new PRI scheme for tyres will comprise the following main features:

- A single compliance scheme for end-of-life tyres to be operated by Repak,

- The ending of the option to “self-comply” under the Regulations,

- Formalisation of the existing recycling charged by tyre retailers into a visible environmental management charge,

- The level of this visible environmental charge would be set by my Department and reviewed in two years,

- As part of the detailed design of the scheme, consideration by my Department, in consultation with the tyres and waste industry, as to whether the funding model is predicated upon a front-loaded or back-loaded model,

- A full audit and registration and reporting component (‘black box’) with a role for the WEEE Register Society, and

- An underpinning of the new regime, including enforcement and compliance measures, by a robust legislative base, including fixed penalty notices for certain breaches.

The figures referred to in the Question have no basis in fact. The central issue here is that motorists already pay an environmental charge when purchasing new tyres, which should go towards the proper end-of-life treatment of their old tyres. However, the contribution currently paid by the consumer is not being used for its intended purpose and hence there is a financial incentive to illegally dump waste tyres. This results in the taxpayer paying twice, initially at the point of purchase of new tyres and again through the costs incurred by local authorities and my Department to dispose of illegal stockpiles of tyres and other forms of illegal dumping.

The new arrangements that I am proposing will ensure that all of the financial contribution by the consumer will go towards the environmental management of waste tyres. It will also provide greater clarity, which is not currently available, around where the funding goes. The proposed charge is therefore a formalisation of an existing charge into a visible environmental management charge. The level of this charge will be set by my Department, in consultation with the tyre industry and will be reviewed two years after its introduction.

I want to end the current system in which the taxpayer pays twice and has no clarity on where either their contribution or their waste tyres go and replace it with a system that is based on the principle of producer responsibility for tyres which operates successfully in the majority of EU Member States.