Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2004
423 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has plans to increase recycling options for recipients of the 2.4 million new telephone books distributed annually to households here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32051/04]
View answerHouseholds served with segregated collection of dry recyclables can recycle their old telephone directories by depositing them in their recyclables wheelie bin. This service is being progressively rolled out, with over 560,000 households nationally already in receipt of such service. Alternatively, households can recycle their old directories by depositing them at civic amenity sites-recycling centres. In the distribution cards circulated simultaneously with the telephone directories, households are referred to the inside back page of the Golden Pages directory for information on the recycling of old directories.
Council Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste requires member states to achieve specified targets for the reduction of biodegradable waste consigned to landfill. A draft national biodegradable waste strategy, setting out a range of integrated measures aimed at providing an effective basis for the achievement of the directive targets, was published earlier this year for public consultation. While the draft strategy acknowledges that publishers of telephone directories have taken positive steps to improve information on how to recycle directories, it recommends that further progress to support their collection and recovery is required. My Department has already held discussions with the publishers of the telephone directories on possible further measures that might be implemented in this regard, and will endeavour to reach agreement on appropriate mechanisms to assist in the achievement of specified targets in this area as soon as possible.
