Vol. 558 No. 3
185 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the percentage of the paper products used by his Department which are manufactured from recycled paper stock; the figures for all other Departments; and if he has issued or intends to issue a circular letter encouraging the use of recycled products by Government agencies. [24069/02]
Over 95% of the main paper products, such as photocopy paper, envelopes, file covers and printed matter, for my Department's offices in Dublin and Ballina are manufactured from recycled paper stock. Over 33% of paper products such as envelopes and photocopy paper purchased for the offices in Shannon are manufactured from recycled paper stock, excluding security coded vehicle licensing certificates and envelopes and pre-printed forms used in automated mailing systems. The procurement arrangements in respect of the functions recently transferred into my Department in relation to heritage protection, nuclear safety and Met Éireann have not yet been integrated into the Department's operating systems. Information on paper products used in other Departments is not available in my Department.
The Government's policy statement Preventing and Recycling Waste: Delivering Change, published in March, contains a commitment to promote, in particular, the use of recycled and recyclable materials in public procurement policies, including ensuring that within two years all public authorities routinely use recycled paper. My Department will be pursuing this with other Departments as part of an overall commitment to the development of a public service waste management programme.
The programme will build upon and extend the green housekeeping initiative that was launched by my Department in 1997 with the publication of the Green Government Guide, copies of which were provided to each Department. Under this initiative all Departments and agencies were asked to implement, inter alia, green procurement policies aimed at increasing the use of recycled products, including paper.
Following approaches by my Department, the Government Supplies Agency has recently extended the range of recycled products in their draw-down contracts for paper, envelopes, printed matter and stationery supplies.
