Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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81.To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment how the Government came to implement the deposit return scheme (the charge, the units, and so on); the person who designed the scheme; if it was an EU directive; and if not, the reason for its implementation. [31994/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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82.To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment who finances the deposit return scheme, pays the wages and the necessary costs for running the company. [31995/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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83.To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if other recycling companies were consulted on how the deposit return scheme affects their workloads; and if so, to outline the feedback provided. [31996/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 81, 82 and 83 together.

A national Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) has been introduced to encourage more people to recycle bottles and cans in order to meet our ambitious EU targets for the recycling of those materials under EU Single Use Plastics and Packaging legislation.

In 2020, after the adoption of the Single Use Plastics Directive, which imposed a 90% separate collection rate for plastic beverage bottles, my Department commissioned Eunomia to analyse options for improving the capture rate of beverage containers in Ireland. This analysis concluded that DRS was the only way in which the 90% collection rate could reliably be achieved.

In developing the DRS, the Department consulted with all stakeholders. My Department established a DRS sub-group of the national Waste Advisory Group, with representatives from the producers, retailers, environmental NGOs and the waste sector. Two public consultations were also carried out, their first in October 2020 on potential models for a DRS and the second in April 2021 on the legislative framework and scope of DRS.

The DRS Regulations comprehensively sets out the parameters under which the scheme operates, including the types and size of containers covered by DRS and the deposit amounts.

DRS is an extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme, whereby producers are given responsibility for the collection and disposal of their products. As with the other EPRs, it is the responsibility of producers to establish the DRS and to nominate an operator of the scheme, for approval by the Minister. DRS is funded through producer fees, sale of material collected and unredeemed deposits.

Re-turn, the DRS operator, is a not-for-profit Company Limited by Guarantee set up by beverage producers to meet their obligations under the DRS regulations. Re-turn is responsible for all operational and funding matters relating to the DRS. While I have no function in the day-to-day business operations of the company, I am satisfied that there are appropriate regulatory and administrative controls in place to monitor the performance of the scheme.