Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:148. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Climate Action and Communication Networks the estimated cost of bringing waste collection services back into public ownership. [24798/20]
View answerTuesday, 22 September 2020
Questions (148, 166)
Mark Ward
Question:166. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Climate Action and Communication Networks his views on the positive environmental impacts that would result from returning waste management to local authority control; if such a move will be supported; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25356/20]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 148 and 166 together. 148 and 166 together.
Earlier this month I launched a new national waste policy for the period 2020-2025, “A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy”. This plan contains a range of measures to reform and strengthen waste management including the provision of an enhanced role to the Local Authority sector and a greater focus on the level of service provided to consumers by the waste collection industry.
Local authorities continue to be responsible for municipal waste collection within their functional areas. The obligations on local authorities in relation to collecting household waste are set out in section 33 of the Waste Management Act 1996, as amended. In summary, it provides that each local authority shall collect, or arrange for the collection of, household waste within its functional area. The obligation to collect or arrange for the collection of household waste shall not apply if:
- an adequate waste collection service is available in the local authority's functional area,
- the estimated costs of the collection of the waste would, in the opinion of the local authority, be unreasonably high, or
- the local authority is satisfied that adequate arrangements for the disposal of the waste concerned can reasonably be made by the holder of the waste.
It is open to any local authority to re-enter the waste collection market as direct service providers if they so choose, either alongside existing permitted service providers or subject to making arrangements to replace those providers. Under section 60(3) of the Waste Management Act 1996 I am, as Minister, precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance by a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in it.