Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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37. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his strategy for the sustainability and expansion of the compost industry in Ireland; his plans to expand the brown bin service to all households; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3670/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, which I launched last September, sets out the ambition to realise the composting potential of the food waste resource. The Plan commits to a number of specific measures which will support the expansion of the brown bin service to all households in the State, including:

- Continuing to commit resources nationally to the prevention of food waste and to the regulation of optimal food waste collection and treatment practices;

- Making the provision of an organic waste bin mandatory as part of a waste collection service for all households;

- Through changes to waste collection permits, and working with the Local Authority sector, ensuring that every householder has access to a reliable, clean and sustainable way of managing food waste;

- Working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to make regulatory changes in planning and tenancy laws required to ensure apartment dwellers are provided with infrastructure to support food waste segregation;

- Using National Waste Collection Permit Office and other ‘brown bin’ data to develop strategies and investigate how new technology can support greater usage;

- Incorporating municipal waste recycling targets as conditions of waste collection permits;

- Standardising colour coding of bins across the State on a phased basis (including the brown bin for organic waste);

- Ensuring household waste management will be an operational and enforcement priority for all stakeholders;

- Delivering sustained and visible public behavioural change campaigns to encourage waste prevention and recycling.

These actions will help support indigenous treatment capacity, including a sustainable compost industry.