Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
132. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the status of the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy; the municipal waste statistics by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1198/22]
View answerThe Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, published in September 2020, contains some 200 measures. To date significant progress has been made on a number of measures, including: - The publication of a first Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy;
- The expansion of the national standardised list of materials acceptable in the mixed dry recyclable bin to include all soft plastics;
- The completion of the legislative framework for the introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme for plastic and aluminium beverage containers up to 3 litres, which will be introduced in Q3 2022;
- The recent publication of Best Practice Guidelines for the Preparation of Resource & Waste Management Plans for Construction and Demolition Projects.
The forthcoming Circular Economy Bill will provide the legislative framework for the implementation of further measures, and delivery of the Plan as a whole will be completed on a phased basis over its 5 year lifetime.
My Department does not collate statistics on municipal waste by county. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for the collation of national waste data and reports annually on Ireland’s performance against the targets set out in EU and national legislation, please see www.epa.ie/our-services/monitoring--assessment/waste/national-waste-statistics/ for further information.
