John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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478. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will take immediate steps to restrict single-use plastic products here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46978/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I am very cognisant of the problems created by single-use plastics and I am working both at a national and European level to tackle the problem.

In January 2018, the European Commission published the European Strategy for Plastics in the Circular Economy. The strategy focuses on plastic production and use and sets a goal of ensuring all plastic placed on the EU market will be recyclable by 2030.

One of the first key legislative proposals to emerge on foot of the EU Plastics Strategy is the “Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment”, which was published on 28 May 2018. This draft legislation proposes new EU-wide rules to target the 10 most prevalent single-use plastic (SUP) products found on Europe's beaches and seas, as well as lost and abandoned fishing gear, which together account for 70% of all marine litter. The proposal includes:

- Proposed bans on certain SUP products, e.g. cotton buds, plastic cutlery and straws;

- Obligations on Member States to reduce the use of certain SUPs and for the collection of others; and

- Obligations on producers of SUP items to cover the costs of waste management and clean up through the establishment of extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes.

Ireland has supported the ambition of this proposal throughout and the Council of Ministers recently agreed an ambitious text to bring to negotiations with the European Parliament. I urge all parties to these negotiations to reach agreement as soon as possible in order to give Member States the ability to introduce this important legislation.

I intend to commission a comprehensive national study to identify the means to achieve the higher proposed targets, complementary to the existing, successful collection system that we could implement to reduce the use of plastics and increase the level of plastic recycling.