John Gormley
Ceist:362 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reason he has not adopted a zero waste strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27515/01]
Written Answers. - Waste Management.
The zero waste concept embraces a range of possible approaches and measures aimed at reducing consumption of materials, minimising waste generation and maximising re-use and recycling, with a view to diverting waste from landfill. Local and regional waste management plans, which I hope to see rapidly implemented, already incorporate such measures and objectives. I will shortly publish a comprehensive policy statement on waste prevention and recycling which will support the delivery of the plans and of the national hazardous waste management plan in these regards.
I fully support practical measures to maximise the diversion of waste from landfill, in accordance with the requirements of the waste hierarchy. However, I do not consider it meaningful to adopt an aspiration target of 100% diversion of waste from landfill by some future date. In this regard, I note that the Green Party's ten point zero waste strategy, which borrows heavily from the existing regional waste management plans, does not set any timescale for achievement of its objectives and is predicated on the indefinite storage of residential waste in locally-based storage depots.
While zero waste strategies have been adopted by a number of cities and municipalities in North America, Australia and New Zealand, their success or otherwise will not be evident for some years. As far as I am aware, to date no country has adopted a 100% landfill diversion target.