Richard Bruton
Ceist:9. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the way that his Department is preparing to implement the circular economy ambitions of the Government. [18475/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 7 April 2022
Ceisteanna (9)
Freagraí ó Béal (6 píosaí cainte)
When the Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022 was published recently, it was disappointing to discover that no obligation will be placed on other Ministers to develop a strategy. It is left to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to develop a programme. The Tánaiste is very interested in seeing circular economy thinking implemented throughout the business sector. What planning is going on in his Department? Will we see strategies for key sectors emerge?
I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The circular economy has never been more relevant as we deal with the consequences of a war in Ukraine that is giving rise to uncertainty in respect of energy supplies and prices, food supplies, inflation and the cost of living. It has also highlighted the inherent vulnerability of allowing our economies to become dependent on fossil fuels, especially when limited supplies are controlled by a small number of states. In future, consumers and businesses may not be able to rely on complex global supply chains to the extent that we do today, with more countries competing for even scarcer resources.
Deputy Bruton has taken a keen interest in the circular economy. I agree with him that the Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022 needs to be enacted as soon as possible to help build more resilient communities and economies.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is implementing several initiatives to support the ambitions of the Government. We have policy responsibility for implementation of the ecodesign directive. The proposal for a sustainable products initiative that was recently brought forward by the Commission puts circularity, repairability, availability of replacement parts and product design for durability at the centre of an expanded ambition for product regulations. The ecodesign regulation can significantly complement our national ambition on the circular economy and the Department will work with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and relevant agencies to promote this shared objective.
Separately, the climate toolkit for business launched by the Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and I last year is an online calculator tool that will assist businesses, especially SMEs, in calculating their carbon footprint on the basis of simple metrics they can input in the context of energy, waste, water and travel. The Department is also working with the cement sector and other stakeholders in the context of climate action plans for 2019 and 2021 in order to increase the use of solid recovered fuels, that is, waste in the fuel sector. It is essential that our ambition to reduce non-recyclable waste and our ambition to decarbonise cement production are complementary.
While I welcome those general approaches, which are largely EU driven, the reality is that we have the lowest circularity rate in Europe at approximately 1.6%. The average is 11.8%. Only 10% of waste is recovered in the construction sector for any sort of useful approach. If we do not start to dig into the sectors and see what is wrong within them, we will fail. Timber use in construction is very low, even though timber is a carbon sink, whereas concrete is a huge source of carbon usage and emissions.
Some 25% of our food is wasted. We need to dig into individuals sectors. I ask the Minister to look to his Department to set up sectoral initiatives and convene an approach in order that each sector will start to see how it can actively decarbonise and reduce other materials or practices that are damaging to the environment.
The Deputy makes a very good suggestion. I, along with my Secretary General and officials, will certainly take it on board. We are trying to develop sectoral plans in respect of the climate action plan in order to bring down our emissions. We have responsibility to bring down emissions from industry by approximately 50% between now and 2031, especially in areas such as cement. Perhaps, it would make sense to roll the two together; what we are trying to do on climate, as well as what we are trying to do on circular economy.
The Deputy is absolutely correct in that we need to make better use of materials. We take too many materials out of the earth, we throw too much out and we do not re-use as much as we could. There are real opportunities there. Construction is one the Deputy mentions in terms of reducing waste, increasing circularity and greater use of timber. That is something we can work because responsibility has fallen to us, under Housing for All, to drive innovation in that sector. The Deputy is absolutely right. I will add it to the list of things my Department and officials need to get done.
Would the Government consider supporting an amendment to the Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022 to place an obligation on individual Ministers to report on progress on sectoral strategies under the circular economy heading? It is notably absent from the Bill, even though it is at the heart of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. These two are indistinguishable. They are two sides of the same coin. We need to put a prod not just on this Minister, who might be enthusiastic about it, but on every Minister who could play a role.
I am certainly happy to consider the amendment, if the Deputy has a draft in mind and wishes to pass it on to me later. I would be happy to take a look at it, run it past my officials and to talk to the Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about it. As is always the case with such an amendment, there is a desire to avoid creating additional obligations for Departments to produce more reports. I certainly feel some Government Departments are almost operating as factories now to produce plans, strategies and reports. They are spending a great deal of time on that aspect and not enough on implementation. Equally, though, if rigorous information obligations are not imposed on Departments, then nothing gets done. It is always a case of trying to get that balance right, but we are very much open to an amendment on the grounds suggested by Deputy Bruton.