I propose to take Questions Nos. 500 and 547 together.
Under Section 33 of the Waste Management Act 1996, a local authority is required to collect, or arrange for the collection of waste within its functional area . Almost all local authorities have now exited the waste collection market.
Collection of waste by a private operator is subject to compliance with applicable environmental and other relevant legislation, primarily the Waste Management Act 1996 and conditions attached to each waste collector’s collection permit issued under the Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2007. Waste collection in individual local authority areas may also be subject to local bye-laws , and enforcement of waste legislation, a waste collection permit condition or waste bye-law is a matter for the relevant local authority.
As Minister, I am specifically precluded under section 60(3) of the Waste Management Act 1996, from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance by the Agency or a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in it. My role as Minister in terms of waste management is to provide the legislative and policy framework under which waste management enforcement authorities work.
In this regard, as part of the introduction of a radical and comprehensive new regulatory framework to reform the regulation of the collection of household waste in 2015, I intend to introduce measures to require collectors to have a customer charter in place and to meet certain minimum standards of customer service , such as specified frequencies of collection . I will be setting out in law what the minimum content of these customer charters will be , so that standards of service are raised and are consistent. It will also become a statutory requirement for all collectors to operate the “pay-by-weight” system as a condition of their permit.
The regulation of weighing mechanisms used to determine weight-based waste collection charges is the responsibility of the National Standards Authority of Ireland and queries in this regard should be directed to that body.
