Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Government’s Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, published in 2020, reconfirms the link between the circular economy and climate action and mandates a whole-of-government approach to ensure a successful transition to a circular economy. The Whole-of-Government Circular Economy Strategy 2022-2023, published in December 2021, sets out an overall policy approach to achieving a circular economy, including sustainable consumption of resources . The next iteration of the strategy is currently being developed by my Department and will set out targets for, inter alia, reductions in material resource consumption, use and re-use of materials across a range of sectors.

With a view to building on the range of measures which were already in place to support greater levels of waste segregation and recycling, for example the Landfill Levy, incentivised household waste collection charging and the requirements of producers under the packaging regulations, the Circular Economy & Miscellaneous Provisions Act facilitated the delivery of a number of further measures from the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, including:

• incentivised waste collection charging in the commercial sector which was introduced on1st July 2023,
• a recovery levy on municipal waste recovery operations at municipal landfills, waste to energy plants, co-incineration plants and to theexport of waste, introduced on 1st September 2023
• the expansion of household bio-waste collection services to all households inthe State from 31st December 2023 and
• the introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for single use PET plasticbottles and aluminium and steel cans which will go live on 1st February 2024.

These measures will assist in encouraging greater waste minimisation and improved source segregation of waste by customers across the state and will contribute to achieving EU targets for municipal waste recycling.