Joe Walsh
Question:37 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for the Environment the number and nature of joint projects which are currently under way regarding the problem of pollution between his Department and the private industrial sector. [3035/96]
Written Answers. - Pollution Control Projects.
My Department participates in, or is associated with, a range of initiatives and joint studies with industrial sectors, with a view to reducing or eliminating sources of pollution. These include the REPAK initiative, a voluntary agreement by IBEC for the collection and recycling of packaging waste; and a study, jointly funded by National Newspapers of Ireland and my Department, on the use of shredded newspaper as an animal bedding. Other areas for voluntary agreement by industrial sectors are currently being explored. As indicated in the reply to Question No. 101 of 14 February 1996, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry has brought forward proposals for the collection by the motor trade of spent automotive batteries. My Department has also consulted with the Irish Detergent and Allied Producers Association with a view to the introduction of a voluntary code to pursue the target of phosphate-free detergent usage.
With regard to funding for pollution reduction projects, my Department operates a scheme of waste recycling grants to private sector organisations and local authorities. Since 1989, ninety-nine grants, totalling £2.2 million, have been paid to 57 bodies undertaking a wide variety of waste recycling activities.