Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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493. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the extent to which reliance on landfill waste disposal facilities continues to be monitored with particular reference to the utilisation of best practice in terms of reduce, reuse, recycle; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49448/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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European, national and regional waste policy are all predicated on the management of waste in line with the waste hierarchy, whereby the prevention, preparation for re-use, recycling and other recovery of waste are preferred (in that order) to the disposal of waste. For instance, collectors of waste must conduct their activities in accordance with the relevant legislation and the conditions of their waste collection permits which, inter alia, require that waste is managed in line with the waste hierarchy.

The Government's policy of increasing the landfill levy to its current level of €75 per tonne has provided a real financial incentive for waste operators to divert as much material as possible from being disposed of at landfill. The success of the above and many other policy and legislative measures, (including the National Waste Prevention Programme and the phasing out of flat rate fees for household waste collection), which encourage waste prevention, preparation for re-use, recycling and other recovery, has meant that more waste can be put to environmentally sustainable and productive use as opposed to being buried in the ground. 

Statistics compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency show that we have come a long way in a relatively short period of time in terms of improving our recycling and recovery rates and reducing our reliance on landfill. In this regard, National Waste Statistics - Reports and Bulletins are available to download at http://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/waste/stats/ including the recently published table on Progress towards EU waste recycling, recovery and diversion targets.