Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 17 Apr 1996

Vol. 464 No. 1

Written Answers. - Waste Recycling.

Austin Deasy

Ceist:

39 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the facilities, if any, that are currently available in this country for recycling cardboard and plastic materials; and the plans, if any, there are to provide jobs in this area. [4943/96]

Ben Briscoe

Ceist:

100 Mr. Briscoe asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the programmes operated by organisations functioning under the aegis of his Department that groups involved in waste recycling may apply to in order to develop their businesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7930/96]

Ben Briscoe

Ceist:

101 Mr. Briscoe asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the efforts, if any, undertaken by his Department to encourage employment in the waste recycling industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7880/96]

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. R. Bruton)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 39, 100 and 101 together.

As far as my Department is concerned, the Deputies will be aware that Forbairt only provides financial assistance to developments which are based on the use of waste as a raw material, and which are used to produce products in a traded sector. Projects must satisfy normal commercial criteria and they are considered on their merit by Forbairt on a case by case basis. Forbairt also provides assistance under the feasibility study grants programme to assist companies to investigate market opportunities for recycled products. Forbairt assistance is not therefore available for developments which are based on collection, sorting, shredding and baling or incineration of waste materials. Recycling enterprises would be eligible for assistance from the county enterprise boards provided they satisfy the commercial, investment and employment criteria applied by the county enterprise boards.

There are various initiatives in operation to support recycling activities. Financial assistance to support waste recovery, waste recycling and the development of waste infrastructure will be available under the solid waste management sub-programme of the Operational Programme for Environmental Services 1994-99 which will be administered by the Department of the Environment. The Minister for the Environment announced details of this scheme on 4 April 1996. The Waste Management Bill, which will shortly be enacted, will provide the Minister for the Environment with extensive powers to promote the prevention, recovery and safe disposal of waste. The National Recycling Strategy,Recycling for Ireland published in 1994, has placed the promotion of recycling high on the Government agenda. I understand that the Minister for the Environment will publish a review of the strategy in the near future to guide and give impetus to the fuller development of recycling in Ireland.

A recent development in the recycling area has been the recently launched REPAK scheme. REPAK is a new organisation, which will be established, run and funded by industry to coordinate and finance the recycling-recovery of packaging waste. REPAK has set itself a target recycling rate of 27 per cent for packaging waste to be achieved by the year 2001. I understand that the funds collected will be used by REPAK to contract out the collection, sorting and recycling of packaging waste.