Statistics and information on shipments of waste to and from Ireland, including repatriated waste, are not kept by my Department. Such information is maintained by the National Transfrontier Shipments Office (NTFSO) as the National Competent Authority for the export, import and transit of waste shipments under the Waste Management (Shipments of Waste) Regulations, 2007.
The liability for the costs associated with repatriated waste shipments carried out under the TFS notification procedure are as prescribed in the Shipments of Waste Regulations. Under these Regulations the notifier of a proposed waste shipment is legally obliged to put in place a Financial Guarantee to cover liabilities resulting from shipments carried out under notification. The purpose of the Financial Guarantee is to cover costs arising in the context of cases where a notified shipment of waste cannot be completed as intended, or in cases where a shipment or the intended recovery or disposal is deemed illegal.
On foot of the recent issues with the transit of a number of containers through Rotterdam, my Department and the NTFSO have met with the Dutch Authorities to agree early warning systems for suspect shipments. The NTFSO has also carried out inspections of the facilities where the contaminated material was originally processed and has met with the waste broker concerned with a view to improving the broker’s inspection and monitoring procedures in order to reduce the risk of repeated incidents in the future.
It is recognised that the co-mingled recycling bin can be contaminated with non-recyclable items due to a number of factors including awareness of what can or cannot be recycled on behalf of the household customer. To improve awareness rates I have allocated substantial funding (€1.6m) in 2017 towards a national waste campaign which will focus on waste prevention and waste segregation. The campaign will support householders to increase their recycling rates and assist them in avoiding the contamination of recyclate and organic waste.
