Vol. 553 No. 2
632 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the steps he proposes to take to extend door to door collections of recyclables to urban centres in accordance with the Government's programme; and if special funding will be made available to local authorities for the purpose. [13496/02]
Current regional waste management plans provide for the progressive development of segregated collection of dry recyclables from households in urban areas, where it is economically feasible to do so. To date, a number of local authorities working in partnership with the private sector have developed such schemes. In Dublin more than 180,000 households are currently serviced, and it is anticipated that this service will extend to more than 250,000 households by the end of the year. Segregated collection has also been introduced in other areas including Galway, Nenagh, Waterford and parts of Louth and Meath. Repak Limited, the voluntary industry initiative for the recovery of packaging waste, subsidises packaging waste recovery by local authorities through segregated kerbside collection schemes. Local authorities also have powers under the Waste Management Act, 1996, to require the segregation and separate collection of household waste and I expect local authorities to use these powers where appropriate in support of increased segregated kerbside collection.
While my Department's grant scheme for waste infrastructure will provide capital support for recycling facilities, an ongoing subsidy for segregated waste collection is not envisaged. I will continue to monitor and keep under review progress in relation to the expansion of segregated collection of recyclables.
