Vol. 566 No. 4
121 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government his views on the fact that the Government's recycling policy has to date been largely confined to the provision of bring-banks comprising four receptacles; his further views on whether this type of facility alone is inadequate; the type of facilities which exist for the physical recycling of waste, in particular glass and plastics; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13132/03]
Government policy on waste management is committed to a major reduction in our reliance on landfill and a sustained expansion in national recycling performance across all waste streams, including both plastics and glass. Under my Department's waste infrastructure capital grants scheme, assistance is available towards the capital cost of a range of waste recovery facilities, including "bring" banks; civic amenity sites; transfer stations facilitating recovery activities; materials recovery facilities for "dry" recyclables; and biological treatment of "green" and organic household waste.
I recently announced allocations of €55 million under the environment fund. The majority of that funding has been allocated for local authority recycling and waste management infrastructure. This level of financial assistance is unprecedented and will support the provision of approximately 580 new "bring" bank sites throughout the country, in addition to about 1,400 sites currently, 25 new and five expanded civic amenity sites, nine composting facilities, one new and one expanded materials recovery facility, as well as the upgrading of many existing "bring" banks. In addition segregated domestic collection services are now being provided to around one-third of all households nationally.
In relation to glass recycling, Rehab Recycling Partnership operates a glass cullet production plant in Ballymount, County Dublin, where the majority of bottles and jars collected in Ireland are pre-processed into crushed cullet. There are also a few smaller glass crushing plants in operation around the country. Most cullet processed in Ireland is now transported to a facility in Northern Ireland for use in the manufacture of new glass containers, with small volumes being transported to glass reprocessors in Britain. The recycling of post-consumer plastic beverage containers and other types of plastic packaging is generally more problematic than the recycling of other packaging materials, due to its light weight, sorting and pre-treatment requirements. Accordingly, the recycling rate of plastic packaging is generally lower than that of other materials.
However, receptacles for the deposit of plastic containers are in place in a number of areas and further facilities are being provided with the grant assistance available from my Department. I am also aware of one indigenous company which has limited facilities for the sorting, washing and pre-treatment of used plastic beverage containers.
I welcome the additional funding recently provided for recycling programmes. I would be disappointed if that did not happen so I will be fair-minded and welcome it.
The Deputy's constituency received funding.
My constituency got some funding but, unfortunately, there is a levy on recycling. One cannot get into the civic amenity centre without paying. People in significant numbers are now separating and recycling waste. The numbers going through the plant have trebled in the three years it has been in operation and the result is that people are now penalised to get in through the door. That is a retrograde step which is not very fair.
In regard to the essence of the question on recycling, there are three stages in this – collection, processing and re-processing. What percentage of homes receive a separated waste collection service? I believe it is only a small percentage. Does the Minister have any plans to develop a glass recycling facility? Unfortunately, the Irish Glass Bottle Company was closed down. Significant volumes of glass come through the system and are available for reprocessing.
There are seven waste management plans in the State. The one for the north-east was costed at over €300 million but, unfortunately, 50% of that cost is for the development of an incinerator with which nobody, except the Minister's party, seems to agree. People are up in arms throughout the State in opposition to incineration. When will funding be put in place to facilitate separated waste collections which were supposed to be available in all urban areas of 500 or more houses? Are weighted collections part of the carrot and stick approach to encourage households to weigh waste? When will that be put in place or has the Minister any plans in that regard?
My final question is on bring banks. In most places these are seen in groups of three or four units; the maximum is half a dozen. They are no substitute for the separated waste collection service. When will they be developed to realistic numbers where there will be at least a dozen different receptacles for the various products that can be recycled, given that there is now firm evidence that Irish people will recycle?
The Deputy asked a number of questions. It is a misunderstanding to think that I promote recycling on the basis that there is no cost involved. There are some costs in recycling and we must accept that. My point, however, is that recycling is a far more cost effective way of dealing with waste, from an environmental point of view, quite apart from the cost point of view, than the traditional methods we used in the past. The facility in Dundalk which I visited recently is a benchmark for the type of facilities I would like to see in all local authority areas. The people who are involved in that, in conjunction with the local authority there, are to be complimented. The usage of that facility is going through the roof. What is happening there is a great example to us all.
About one third of all households segregate their waste. I believe we are approaching a critical mass figure which will produce an accelerator approach with regard to the amount of houses involved. This is local authority led. The Deputy asks what I am doing about it. I have done a great deal in terms of providing enormous resources for it. Some local authorities are well advanced and they are not being treated any differently from other local authorities by me. Much of it comes down to the will of the local authorities, the council members and the plans their officials are able to advance at a speedy rate. This system is based on local authority initiatives which will be supported in financial and educational terms and through the awareness and market development campaigns at the upper end of the scale which I am developing.
The closure of the Irish Glass Bottle Company was unfortunate and disappointing, particularly for those who lost their jobs. If there is to be a new facility, it will be a commercial facility. If the Deputy is asking whether the State will develop such a facility, it will not. The Deputy will be aware that in some aspects of waste disposal, and I believe this is a good thing, we will take an increasingly all-island approach. One example is the fact that we have just signed off on an agreement with our colleagues in the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland on the collection of fridges. There is one contract for the entire island and all local authorities will feed into it. We need to ensure that the different areas of our island have the capacity to deal with the different streams of waste being collected. That is important.
Weighted volumes are utilised in some local authorities, but not enough. Progress on this has been slow and I want to increase it substantially. It is much fairer to charge by weight for the removal of waste. About five local authorities have moved on this and I expect all local authorities to do so in the next year or two. This is most important because it will encourage people. The more they recycle, the less waste disposal will cost them.
