Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 October 2023
55. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the quantity of soft plastics that is recycled in Ireland in each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023; what infrastructure exists to recycle soft plastics; if there are plans to develop this infrastructure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44265/23]
View answerThe EPA is the competent authority for the collation of national waste statistics and reports annually on Ireland’s performance against a range of European waste directive and regulations. These reports are available at National Waste Statistics | Environmental Protection Agency (epa.ie).
Waste management planning, including with regard to infrastructure provision, is the responsibility of local authorities under the Waste Management Act 1996. While I have no direct role in relation to the provision of waste infrastructure, the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, contains a number of measures to develop and maintain indigenous treatment capacity, including:
• Increased segregation of waste to support investment (for example, through the introduction of incentivised pricing for commercial waste, the introduction of the recovery levy and increase in the landfill levy, the continued rollout of brown bins - all delivered);
• Consolidation of waste management planning into a single national National Waste Management Plan replacing the current three regional plans (due for publication by the local government sector shortly);
• Inclusion of soft plastics on the agreed list of materials that can be placed in the mixed dry recycling bin (introduced September 2021);
• Review of the existing legislation and procedures that regulate the development of waste infrastructure with a view to simplifying and streamlining (underway through the new Planning and Development Bill 2023 and review of the Environmental Protection Acts).
