Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 3 Oct 2001

Vol. 541 No. 2

Written Answers. - Waste Management.

Nora Owen

Ceist:

695 Mrs. Owen asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the resources he has made available to local authorities in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 to increase the volume of waste being recycled; and the tonnage recycled and reused in these four years compared to the previous four years. [21518/01]

Minister for the Environment and Local Government (Mr. Dempsey):

Total payments to local authorities in respect of waste recovery infrastructure under the Operational Programme for Environmental Services 1994-99 (Waste Management Sub-Programme) amounted to £3,106,958. Grant payments in 1998, 1999 and 2000 were as follows: 1998, £173,995; 1999, £1,281,477; 2000, £624,111.

No grant payments issued in 2001 as payments under the operational programme concluded at the end of 2000. Under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, £100 million in Exchequer/EU assistance will support the deliv ery of waste recovery infrastructure under the recently adopted local and regional waste management plans. I will announce details of this new grants scheme shortly.

National waste statistics are published at three yearly intervals by the Environmental Protection Agency. The first national waste database report, in respect of 1995, estimated that out of total municipal waste – household and commercial – arisings of 1,503,171 tonnes in that year, 117,732 tonnes (7.8%) were recycled. The most recent 1998 national waste database report, which was published in March 2000, estimated that out of total municipal waste arisings of 1,852,450 tonnes in that year, 166,684 tonnes – 9% – were recycled. The next database report will deal with 2001 but will not be available until late 2002 at the earliest. However, taking account of recent increases in packaging waste recovery in particular, the indications are that the recycling performance of municipal waste generally has increased since 1998.