Vol. 482 No. 3
247 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to proposals by drink companies to switch from aluminium to steel cans; and his views on whether such a proposal would have a negative impact on the aluminium recycling business. [17821/97]
It is not clear that a switch from the use of aluminium cans to steel cans by the beverage industry would have an adverse effect on the recycling rate achieved in relation to aluminium cans or a significant adverse effect on the environment. A recent major study on the environmental impacts of packaging and packaging waste indicates that, in general, the differences in this regard between packaging options for beverages are relatively small and that substantial improvement in terms of environmental protection would not be easy to achieve by switching from one system to another. This is one of the conclusions of the study entitled Eco-balances for Policy-making in the Domain of Packaging and Packaging Waste carried out by consultants for the European Commission.
