Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1289. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the cost of establishing a bottle deposit scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1148/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The “International Review of Waste Management Policy”, published in 2009, was a major review of waste management policy in Ireland. This report was commissioned by the then Minister for the Environment John Gormley. It reported on a deposit and refund scheme stating “the evidence is not sufficiently strong to support a recommendation of this nature, principally because the information regarding implementation costs is not such that the costs can be said to unequivocally justify the benefits”.

In July 2014, the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan published a Review of the Producer Responsibility Initiative model in Ireland.  As part of this review, a wider examination of issues within the packaging sphere, which includes bottles, was undertaken and consideration was given to the introduction of a deposit and refund scheme.  The review report did not recommend the introduction of a deposit and refund scheme and concluded that to establish such a scheme was inappropriate, in view of the operation of the existing successful packaging scheme.

A feasibility study identified - based on practice overseas, previous relevant studies, and stakeholder consultations – the projected financial implications of introducing a deposit and refund scheme in Scotland. The identified costs are:

- One-off set up costs = £15m sterling

- Machine take back (p.a.) = £29m

- Manual take back (p.a.) = £8m

- Logistics (p.a.) = £20m

- Counting centres (p.a.) = £3m

- Administration (p.a.) = £3m

That is £78 million pounds sterling – in excess of €88 million.

Deputy Eamon Ryan and Green Party Leader when introducing a Private Members’ Bill on the subject, suggested a deposit and refund scheme would cost €276 million to implement in Ireland.  A study investigating the possible introduction in the UK puts a figure of €790 million per year. 

There is a lack of clarity around the costs associated with the introduction of a deposit and return scheme. Without a complete understanding of the cost implications on the taxpayer, on employers, on retailers and on customers it would be financially reckless of me to proceed with its introduction here without proper scrutiny.  Our national approach to date for dealing with waste packaging has been based around the Extended Producer Responsibility principle – EPR.  EPR seeks to ensure that the producer of a product bears a significant portion of the cost of dealing with the waste disposal of the product they supply.  In Ireland this has been done very effectively through a producer funded compliance scheme, operated by Repak.  Similar schemes operate in other waste streams such as batteries, waste electronic and electrical goods, farm plastics and end-of-life vehicles.

Notwithstanding this, on foot of a Private Members Bill tabled by Deputy Ryan, I have asked the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment to look at the merits of a deposit and refund scheme at a national level in the context of the associated costs and the contribution it could make in achieving our national waste targets under EU legislation.

In a 2014 Review of the Producer Responsibility Initiative model, it was concluded that Ireland has achieved significant progress in recent years in recovering and recycling packaging waste.