Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

108. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if, in conjunction with the Department of Social Protection, he will arrange for a specific support for a waiver or other support system for larger families with low incomes who have been estimated as being part of the five per cent of households who have five or more members who will be affected by the increased charges they will have to pay as a direct result of the pay-by-weight system for waste disposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12401/16]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

109. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will introduce a waiver system for larger families with low incomes who have been estimated as being part of the five per cent of households who have five or more members who will be affected by the increased charges they will have to pay as a direct result of the pay-by-weight system for waste disposal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12403/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 108 and 109 together.

Government waste policy is predicated on the waste hierarchy as set out in the EU’s Waste Framework Directive. A number of specific measures have been, and will continue to be, introduced to reduce the amount of waste generated in the State and to increase the segregation of waste which cannot be prevented in line with Government policy. The introduction of pay-by-weight charges for the collection of household waste is one such measure.

During the period in which local authorities were directly involved in the collection of household waste, a minority of individual Councils offered different levels of discount to selected households, based on different qualification criteria.

As local authorities exited the waste collection market, some required the private operators which took on the Councils’ customers to provide a level of discount for existing waiver customers only, and even then for a limited time. The vast majority of such contractual commitments for private operators to provide a waiver have now expired. In that context, the number of households in receipt of waiver discounts is likely to decline further over time, especially as some householders were able to take advantage of special reduced offers elsewhere which actually undercut the waiver price. However, selected private operators still offer some level of discount to former waiver customers on a voluntary basis.

In addition, a very limited number of local authorities make financial contributions toward the cost of the collection of waste from certain households. Again, the qualification criteria and level of support differ from area to area. Such expenditure means that these local authorities divert funding from other areas to support these waiver provisions.

With the exception of one or two municipal districts, local authorities no longer collect waste and the market is now serviced by a diverse range of private operators, where the fees charged are a matter between service provider and customer and the services offered vary across the country. In that regard, it is becoming increasingly apparent that a national waiver scheme could not be imposed in the context of an open market for waste collection.

However, under pay-by- weight charging for household waste collection, there is an opportunity for everybody to have more control over their waste charges and to minimise their waste costs by preventing waste and segregating waste through using the food waste and recyclable waste bins properly. In this regard, a pay-by- weight awareness campaign, launched on 18 May, will be rolled out at national, regional and local levels in the coming weeks and will give invaluable advice to householders on minimising their waste management costs under the new charging regime.