Vol. 510 No. 3
313 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the way in which the growth in the creation of waste over the past five years compares with the growth in GDP; and the measures, if any, he will introduce in co-operation with the Department of Finance to ensure that the two trends are de-linked and waste creation reduced. [22621/99]
The Environmental Protection Agency – EPA – is currently updating the national waste database, which provides comprehensive statistics and information in respect of 1995, and I understand that a report in respect of 1998 will be published shortly. It will be possible more precisely to evaluate trends in waste arisings when this information is available. However, the EPA in Environment in Focus (1999) indicated that household and commercial waste arisings are growing at some 4.5 per cent each year. By comparison, GDP has grown in real terms by an average of 8.5 per cent per annum between 1994 and 1998.
Waste generation is clearly linked to economic and industrial activity, and the need to break the link between economic growth and waste generation presents a significant challenge to all developed countries. The European environment agency, in its 1999 report Environment in the European Union at the turn of the Century indicated that reported total waste generation in OECD Europe increased by nearly 10 per cent between 1990 and 1995, compared with GDP growth during that period of about 6.5 per cent in constant prices.
Under the Waste Management Act, 1996 local authorities are required to make waste management plans in respect of their functional areas, and the EPA is required to make a national hazardous waste management plan.
Reflecting the waste hierarchy, the statutory objective of these plans is to prevent or minimise the production and harmful nature of waste; encourage and support the recovery of waste, and ensure that such waste as cannot be prevented or recovered is safely disposed of.
Local authorities generally are well advanced in the development and adoption of waste management plans, in most cases on a regional basis. Available plans and draft plans provide for a range of measures to be undertaken in support of waste minimisation.
The EPA recently published a proposed national hazardous waste management plan for public consultation over a two-month period. The cornerstone of the proposed plan is hazardous waste prevention and, to this end, the adoption of an ambitious hazardous waste prevention programme is recommended.
It is the intention further to expand upon the policy issues and guidance outlined in Changing our Ways with the publication of a further policy statement which will address the prevention, minimisation and recovery, including recycling, of waste. This policy document will address the factors and practical considerations which are relevant to the achievement of Government policy objectives and targets in this area and will outline the scope of measures which will be undertaken in the interests of a sustained improvement in national waste management performance.
