Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 February 2005
80 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way in which he intends to increase the level of recycling of newspaper and cardboard, the level of which is amongst the lowest in Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4082/05]
View answer97 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he will take to provide for the recycling of paper in view of the recent announcement of the closure of a paper mill (details supplied) the only plant providing this service on the island; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3915/05]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 80 and 97 together.
I have already publicly expressed my regret at the closure of this plant. The Smurfit plant, established in 1954 and requiring substantial modernisation, was the only paper mill recycling plant on the island of Ireland. Its closure, on foot of the closure of the Irish Glass and Irish Steel plants in recent years, diminishes our capacity to reprocess waste for recycling indigenously.
Significant progress has been made in raising recycling levels in Ireland in recent years. We all agree that higher and sustained levels of recycling are crucial to dealing with the increased levels of waste being generated in this country. The closure of the Smurfit plant means, in the short term at least, that we must now transport all of the waste paper and cardboard collected for recycling abroad.
The Smurfit plant had a capacity to process approximately 45,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard annually, which is relatively small by international standards. The latest data published by the Environmental Protection Agency indicate that over 358,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard was collected for recycling in 2003, representing a recovery rate of 38.8% for this waste stream. In effect, the vast majority of the increasing volumes of paper and cardboard being collected for recycling are already being sent abroad.
We must continue to look at ways of further improving our material recovery performance for paper and cardboard. The establishment of new paper reprocessing capacity in Ireland is likely to be costly and will be driven by clear commercial considerations. In this regard, my Department — under the auspices of the North South market development group and in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment and the UK Waste Resources Action Group, WRAP — recently commissioned a consultancy study to examine the feasibility of developing new paper mill capacity on the island of Ireland with a view to utilising greater volumes of collected waste paper and cardboard locally. If a viable option can be identified, this would provide stable domestic recycling capacity and produce new recycled paper and cardboard products for the domestic market. The commissioning of this consultancy study, which is being undertaken by a multinational consortium and is due for completion by the end of March, is timely, and I await its conclusions with interest.
A range of measures to promote the recycling of paper is already in place and the available data show that these are having a significant impact. These measures include: the progressive roll out of segregated household collection of dry recyclables or kerbside green bin collection services to over 560,000 households or some 42% of all households in the State — it is estimated that newsprint and other paper waste accounts for over 50% of the material being collected from households via the green bin collection service; a public service waste management programme which is currently being prepared and which will ensure that all public authorities will routinely use recycled paper; a producer responsibility initiative, PRI, which is currently under discussion with the newsprint industry with a view to improving recovery rates for newsprint.
Under Directive 1999/31/EC on the landfill of waste, Ireland is required to progressively reduce its landfill of biodegradable municipal waste to 35% of the amount produced in 1995. Interim targets for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste to 75% and 50% are to be achieved over the 15 year period concerned. In April 2004, Ireland's first draft national strategy on biodegradable waste, which was published for public consultation, set out a range of integrated measures designed to facilitate the achievement of these ambitious diversion targets. The draft strategy proposes a range of complementary measures, which are designed in accordance with the waste hierarchy, to support biodegradable waste minimisation and diversion from landfill.
Ambitious targets for the recycling of waste paper and cardboard, and the biological treatment of food and garden wastes, from both the domestic and commercial sectors have been proposed in the draft strategy with source separation of paper-cardboard and food-garden waste considered to be key to the achievement of the strategy's objectives. Under the draft strategy, specific targets have been set for both the domestic household sector and the commercial sector to achieve an overall recycling rate for waste paper and cardboard of 67% by the end of the 15 year period.
It is envisaged that the national strategy on biodegradable waste will be finalised before the autumn following the completion of a comprehensive evaluation of all submissions received from the public consultation process. All the indications are that the recycling position will continue to improve as a result of the ongoing implementation of the local and regional waste management plans.
