Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1250. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the locations to which the brown waste that is collected by bin companies is brought; and the end use of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35187/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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In order to maximise the resource potential and minimise disposal of our waste, the European Union (Household Food Waste and Bio-waste) Regulations 2015 build on the Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations 2009. These two sets of regulations place clear obligations on waste collectors, businesses and households to promote the segregation and recovery of food waste for purposes of producing energy, compost and digestate, thereby supporting job creation in the waste and bio-energy sectors. The Regulations also facilitate the achievement of the targets set out in the Landfill Directive (Directive 99/31/EC) for the diversion of bio-degradable municipal waste from landfill sites, by directing source-segregated household food waste to composting and to other forms of treatment.

There are positive indications that the implementation and enforcement of these Regulations are resulting in more food waste being diverted from landfill. The Environmental Protection Agency recently published Compost and Anaerobic Digestion (AD) Statistics for 2015 which highlighted the following trends:

- The quantity of waste accepted for treatment at composting and AD plants increased from 271 ktonnes in 2013 to 300 ktonnes in 2015 (11% increase);

- Composting was the dominant treatment activity (>80% of tonnage accepted);

- The quantity of brown bin waste accepted rose with 114 ktonnes in 2013 and 143 ktonnes in 2015 (25% increase) reflecting the implementation of the Household Food Waste Regulations.

The treatment and management of waste material, including food waste is subject to a registration and permitting system by local authorities or licensing by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as appropriate, and governed by the Waste Management (Facility Permit & Registration) Regulations 2007 or the Waste Management (Licensing) Regulations 2004. For a composting, biogas or similar site to be classed as an authorised facility under the Food Waste Regulations, it must be both authorised for the treatment of food waste and be subject to an EPA licence, waste facility permit or a certificate of registration as appropriate.

An inventory of such sites authorised by local authorities per region may be accessed at while details regarding authorised facilities operating under a waste licence are available on the EPA’s website at.