Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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86. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment regarding the National Waste Action Plan 2020-2025, and the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, the status of Ireland's progress in reducing or phasing out single-use plastics; whether the Government has plans to introduce further regulations in respect of restricting the use of single-use plastics; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1120/25]

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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87. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment in the context of the National Waste Action Plan 2020-2025, whether he has plans to introduce regulations or initiatives to reduce the use of single-use cups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1121/25]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, Ireland’s national waste policy, sets out a range of measures to tackle the environmental degradation caused by single-use plastics, including single use cups. The intention is to eliminate this waste stream with the introduction of a levy and an eventual ban on all single-use cups, building on the success of initiatives such as the Killarney Coffee Cup project.

In July 2021, the Single Use Plastics Regulations came into effect. These regulations introduced a range of measures to eliminate or reduce the impact of single use plastics (SUP) including:

- a ban on certain SUP products, including cutlery, plates, beverage stirrers, food containers and beverage cups and containers made of expanded polystyrene and all products made from oxo-degradable plastic,

- mandatory labelling for certain SUP products, informing consumers of the presence of plastic and the impact that littering and inappropriate disposal of those products has on the environment,

- mandatory tethering of caps/lids for beverage to prevent their leakage into the environment, and

- the establishment of a number new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes. Since January 2023, EPRs are in place for single use packaging items and for tobacco filter products containing plastic, while EPRs for wet wipes, balloons and fishing gear will be in place in 2025. Producers of these products have a responsibility to finance the collection and environmentally-sound waste management of their products at end of life including litter clean up.

A national Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) was introduced in February 2024 to incentivise the separate collection and recycling of single use plastic bottles and cans. Uptake of the DRS has been very positive to date and over 930 million containers have been returned and some €160 million in deposits refunded to consumers. Monthly collection rates have been steadily increasing from 2% in February when the scheme went live to 73% at the end of August (latest available data), placing Ireland well on track to achieve its EU collection target of 77% by the end of 2025.

The Circular Economy Act 2022 provides the power to introduce levies and bans on a range of single use items and these are implemented through secondary legislation. My focus to date has been on the introduction of a levy on single-use cups for hot drinks (the Coffee Cup Levy).

These measures have been and continue to be promoted on the platform 'MyWaste', an initiative of the Regional Waste Management Offices on behalf of my Department. A broader campaign to raise awareness of the Circular Economy more generally was launched last year by my Department. 'It's time to go Circular' introduces the public to the concept of circularity and laid the groundwork for more targeted campaigns around selected themes, including single use coffee cups and the DRS.