Waste management remunicipalisation
Deputy Smith highlighted Dublin City Council’s motion to bring waste management back into public ownership and argued it was needed for fairness and sustainability. The Minister acknowledged improvements in recycling but indicated he did not support the proposal, which Smith then restated.
In a significant development, Dublin City Council yesterday endorsed a motion from one of our councillors, Tina MacVeigh from People Before Profit, to re-municipalise waste management in the city. That means taking the waste management system back into public control and ownership. This very important development paves the way for addressing environmental concerns, the concerns of the city's population who have been paying inordinate charges to private waste management companies and the concerns of those who could not afford the charges when their waivers were removed. As the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment and a representative of the Government, does the Minister agree that it is time the Government legislated to support this motion to take our waste management back into public control? The motion was also supported by the management of Dublin City Council. The current approach has been a disaster for the population and the environment. We have also seen the farce of plastic being shipped to China and back again, which was both unsustainable and unjust.
Comment on this
We need sustainable waste management and we can only achieve that via public control.
Comment on this
The Deputy should allow the Minister to respond and show some concern for her colleagues.
Comment on this
I am not saying one is on account of the other, but it is important that the Deputy recognise the significant improvements made in the quality of our waste management in recent years. We have improved our recycling rates and we are ahead of recycling targets in most areas. That is not to say everything is satisfactory. We need to improve significantly, specifically in the area of plastics. The difficulties have not been in collection but in other areas, including handling, prevention, reduction, recycling and outlets. While we need to make improvements, I suspect this measure is not one that will significantly contribute to improving our record on recycling.
Comment on this
The Minister is opposed to the re-municipalisation of waste management. He does not agree with it.