John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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1015. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the scale of coffee grain residue from retail outlets in view of the rise in retail coffee consumption in recent years. [24486/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is charged with reporting data on waste management. A wide range of waste statistics is available on the EPA website (), including national waste reports and data releases containing information on composting and anaerobic digestion of biodegradable waste generated in Ireland. The most recent data release indicates that the quantity of biodegradable municipal waste, which would include used coffee grinds, sent for composting and anaerobic digestion increased by 19 per cent between 2015 and 2016 (from 194 thousand tonnes to 231 thousand tonnes). This is a clear indication that the food waste regulations have had a positive impact on increasing the quantity of municipal waste accepted for composting/anaerobic digestion. The  Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations 2009 place clear obligations on businesses - including coffee outlets, 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 food waste to composting and to other forms of treatment.