From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
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The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022, which was signed by the President and has become law, underpins Ireland’s shift from a “take-make-waste” linear model to a more sustainable pattern of production and consumption, that retains the value of resources in our economy for as long as possible and that will to significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
In a circular economy, waste and resource use are minimised. The use and value of products and materials is maintained for as long as possible. When a product has reached the end of its life its parts are used again and again – to create further useful products, instead of being discarded which is an all too familiar pattern now.
As it passed through the Dáil, the Act received broad cross-party support to introduce levies on all single-use packaging over time and where more sustainable alternatives are available and it comprises more social protections, including measures to protect low-income households and people with disabilities. The Act also ensures that we have a fit-for-purpose regulatory system in place – to allow hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material to be safely and sustainably re-used as secondary raw materials, which could be particularly important for the construction sector.
The Act:
A significant action provided for, under the new legislation, will see Local Authorities empowered to use GDPR-compliant technologies such as CCTV to detect and prevent unsightly and illegal dumping and littering, among other measures. This will help to discourage “fly-tipping” which is a blight across the country.
With this Act, over time, a range of single-use disposable products will also be phased out. Among its targets is to make Ireland one of the first countries in the world to eliminate the use of disposable coffee cups, nearly half a million of which are currently sent to landfill or incineration every day, amounting to 200 million cups a year.
This process will begin with a ban over the coming months on the use of disposable coffee cups for sit-in customers in cafés and restaurants, followed by the introduction of a small charge on disposable cups for takeaway coffees that can be avoided completely by using a reusable cup. This will operate in the same way as the existing Plastic Bag Levy, which has been so successful in reducing plastic bag litter across the country. The Act also allows for levies on all single-use packaging to be introduced.
Minister of State with responsibility for Communications and Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth, said:
"This Act is a step change in how Ireland approaches the Circular Economy. It defines what the Circular Economy is in domestic law and obliges the government to prepare and regularly update an ambitious national Circular Economy Strategy, including national and sectoral targets around things like re-use and repair. The Act will allow us to tackle the proliferation of single-use disposable items, which too often end up as landfill or litter, in the same way Ireland has done so successfully before with the Plastic Bag Levy. It will also improve the processes for allowing the use of secondary raw materials in a safe and sustainable manner. This has the potential to keep hundreds of thousands of tonnes of material out of landfill, incineration or other forms of recovery. Finally, the Act gives Local Authorities the power to responsibly use CCTV and other recording technologies to tackle illegal dumping and littering in local communities, but does so in a way that includes very strong privacy safeguards and is fully compliant with data protection law.
"This Act aims to stop the wasteful pattern of using valuable resources once and then just binning them. From discouraging the use of single-use items, to improving the process for allowing recycled materials onto the market, this legislation will support the development of sustainable products and business models across the economy."
He added that Ireland had led the way 20 years ago, with measures that dramatically curbed the use of plastic bags and the associated litter that they caused.
The Act also takes specific account of the social dimensions of the Circular Economy – to safeguard, for example, low-income households and people with disabilities. The Act introduces a legal requirement that, when a National Circular Economy Strategy is being prepared, the national policies in relation to the needs of socially and economically disadvantaged communities, and persons with disabilities, must be factored in.
The Act builds on the government’s commitment to achieving a circular economy, as set out in the 2020 Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy and the 2021 Whole-of-Government Circular Economy Strategy. This Act now places that strategy on a statutory footing, putting the re-use of resources and reduced consumption at the heart of the Irish economy.
The Act also effectively calls time on coal exploration by ending the issuing of new licences for the exploration and mining of coal, lignite and oil shale. This follows-on from Programme for Government commitments to end new licences for the exploration and extraction of gas, which was in line with the previous 2019 decision to end oil exploration and extraction.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan, said:
"This is a landmark moment in this government’s commitment to making the circular economy a reality in Ireland. Through a mix of economic incentives and smarter regulation we can achieve far more sustainable patterns of production and consumption that move us away from the patterns of single-use and throw-away materials and goods that are such a wasteful part of our economic model now. We have to re-think the way we interact with the goods and materials we use every day, if we are to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, because 45% of those emissions come from producing those goods and materials."
Draft Regulations on the Single Use Disposable Cup Levy will go out for consultation this autumn, with a view to these taking effect before the end of the year. A public consultation on new regulations in respect of the End-of-Waste and By-Products decisions making processes will also go out for consultation later this year.
The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) will begin preparing the Statutory Codes of Practice in relation to the use of CCTV and other Recording Devices that Local Authorities will have to abide by as when using these technologies tackle illegal dumping. The Codes of Practice will then be submitted to the Minister for final approval.
ENDS
Delivering a circular economy will have positive environmental, economic and social impacts. A well-designed circular policy framework can identify co-benefits, so that environmental improvements also provide economic and social opportunities, and vice versa. Across Europe, countries are moving towards and adopting circular economy practices. The EU is pursuing its ‘European Green Deal’ strategy, which has the circular economy at its heart. In March 2020, the EU launched its Second Circular Economy Action Plan. At the national level, Ireland published its first Whole-of-Government Circular Economy Strategy in December 2021 to ensure policy coherence across the public sector and to outline the government’s overall approach to the circular economy for stakeholders and the public.
The Circular Economy Act 2022 goes further – by translating this policy approach into a statutory requirement. It will also provide the necessary statutory underpinning to a range of actions that will strengthen waste enforcement in relation to illegal dumping and littering, for example: through allowing for the GDPR-compliant use of CCTV and other technologies in enforcement actions. The Circular Economy Strategy provides a national policy framework for Ireland’s transition to a circular economy. This Act places that Strategy, and the commitment to a circular economy, on a clear statutory footing. The forthcoming National Circular Economy Programme (operated by the EPA) will be placed on the same statutory basis.
In the context of waste enforcement the Act advances a number of provisions, including the GDPR-compliant use of technologies such as CCTV, for waste enforcement purposes. They will ensure that the processing of personal data may be carried out by local authorities tasked with enforcing litter and waste law, thus providing an important deterrent in relation to littering and illegal dumping. At the same time it is essential that the privacy rights of citizens are fully respected through robust safeguards; this Act does that.
The national Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy sets out the commitments to introduce new environmental levies for more responsible waste management behaviour. With the signing of the Act, these levies can now be implemented.
We send nearly 200 million coffee cups to landfill or incineration every year in Ireland. This is entirely avoidable waste. We want to encourage people to prevent it occurring by enjoying their on-the-go drink in a reusable cup.
We are introducing a small charge on disposable coffee cups to incentivise people to choose to re-use.
It will work in a similar way to the plastic bag levy, with the proceeds ringfenced in a Circular Economy Fund for projects relating to environmental and climate action objectives. It is not a revenue raising measure; it is about effecting behavioural change. If we manage to effect that change, then revenue will disappear within a short space of time – as people make the switch.
Ultimately, the ambition is to make Ireland one of the first countries in the world to eradicate disposable coffee cups. This is an important step in its own right but, more fundamentally, the coffee cup measures can also provide a way to get people thinking about other circularity steps they can take in their daily lives to lower resource consumption and contribute to climate action.
The first levies on disposable coffee cups will be introduced later this year (2022).
Waste recovery involves waste being sent for incineration or for what’s known as ‘backfilling’, essentially filling in quarries or providing hard surfaces for landfill sites. It means that materials that could, in some cases, be re-used or recycled are either incinerated or buried in the ground. This is poor way to treat potentially valuable resources.
The Act provides powers for the Minister to impose a levy on waste recovery that takes place in Ireland, and also on waste exports from Ireland for recovery elsewhere in the EU and outside of the EU.
Introducing this levy will further improve the economic rationale for recycling and re-use to be the default first option for dealing with waste in this country. It’s based on the model of the existing landfill levy which, again, has been extremely successful.
Like the environmental levies on single use items, all proceeds of the recovery levy will be ringfenced into the Circular Economy Fund.
The details of the levy, including the rate, will be set out in secondary legislation, which will be subject to public consultation.
The Act introduces a mandatory segregation and incentivised charging regime for commercial waste, similar to what exists for the household market.
At present, it is possible for commercial premises to dispose of their waste through a single, unsegregated, bin. This will no longer be possible under the changes being introduced by the Act, forcing premises to manage their waste in a properly segregated manner. Better segregation and incentivised pricing, with recycling bins having lower charges than general waste bins, should also ultimately save businesses money.
The Programme for Government commits to ending new licences for the exploration and extraction of gas, in line with the 2019 decision in relation to oil exploration and extraction. This follows on from the announcement by the previous government, in September 2019, to prohibit exploration for oil.
This commitment has been given statutory effect through the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021.
The Act extends this policy to other fossil fuels, by ending the issuing of new licences for the exploration and mining of coal, lignite, and oil shale. There is currently no prospecting for these minerals in Ireland and the mining of these fuels is negligible.
The Act will help streamline the process for decisions made by the EPA on what are known as End-of-Waste and By-Product applications.
These 2 processes allow, under strict environmental conditions, materials which might otherwise be treated as waste to be recycled or re-used in other applications. This can only happen where it’s safe to do so and where there is a genuine use that the recycled/re-used materials can be put to in the market. The Act will allow the EPA to improve the application processes, so that it can avoid delays in decision making due to issues like incomplete information being provided in applications.
Example:
In the construction sector, there’s significant potential to reduce the need for mining aggregates, things like crushed rock and sand and gravel that are used in concrete, by re-using what might otherwise be treated as waste material from demolition. This has to be done in a way that’s safe, in terms of the environment, human health. The End-of-Waste process is the means by which we can provide those safeguards.
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