Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 25 Nov 1997

Vol. 483 No. 3

Written Answers. - Waste Disposal.

Trevor Sargent

Ceist:

278 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the regulations, if any, he has introduced to date in 1997 as provided for under the Waste Management Act, 1996; and if he will act swiftly to require local authorities to collect compostible waste separately from non-compostible waste as a critical first step to reduce the need for new landfill sites in view of a UCD study which states that 46 per cent of domestic waste in Dublin is compostible. [20307/97]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. D. Wallace)

To date, the following Regulations have been made under the Waste Management Act, 1996: the Waste Management (Licensing) Regulations, 1997; the Waste Management (Planning) Regulations, 1997; the Waste Management (Register) Regulations, 1997; the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations, 1997, and the Waste Management (Farm Plastics) Regulations, 1997.

It is primarily a matter for local authorities, in the context of the adoption of waste management plans, under section 22 of the Waste Management Act, 1996, to determine the measures to be taken to encourage and support the recovery of waste. For this purpose, local authorities are required, under the Waste Management (Planning) Regulations 1997, to have regard to the segregation and separate collection of recoverable wastes, which would include the organic fraction of municipal waste, and to have regard to home composting of organic household waste.

It is a stated objective of national recycling policy to divert some 100,000 tonnes of organic waste away from landfill by means of composting by 1999. Local authorities are already engaged in activities to promote and support composting. Financial assistance has been allocated to some local authorities under the Operational Programme for Environmental Services 1994-99, for the provision of composting facilities and in one instance, towards the development of a pilot project to collect organic waste from households for composting.

The National Waste Database Report published by the Environmental Protection Agency indicates that, in 1995 some 32 per cent of household and commercial waste was compostable, including some 40 per cent in urban areas and 29 per cent in rural areas.