Minister’s deferral of ‘Pay by weight’ charges will further delay implementation of EU Directive that is a decade overdue
The Green Party today criticised Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Denis Naughten’s decision to defer ‘Pay by Weight’ waste charges until at least July 2017.
Speaking today, Green Party Spokesperson on Local Government, Cllr Malcolm Noonan, said that further delays are playing into the hands of the incinerator industry by facilitating a dysfunctional market for recyclables, undermining the viability of waste collection and ultimately offering consumers very poor value for money or tangible incentives to reduce waste.
He said: “The Government has given up on any ambition to decouple economic growth from waste generation; a long held cornerstone of successive waste management strategies. We have delayed by a decade the implementation of the EU Landfill Directive which sought to reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfill and the uncertainty in the market is going to mean most of our recyclables will end up feeding some very hungry incinerators when Poolbeg and Carrenstown are open.
“Waste operators need clarity, Local Authorities need clarity and most of all consumers need clarity on this issue. The technology to implement pay by weight has existed for many years and there is no doubt that it could have a positive environmental and economic impact.
“The issue here wasn’t opposition to ‘pay by weight’ charges in and of themselves. The issue here was with waste companies exploiting the confusion to hike prices. We have to ensure that ‘pay by weight’ reduces the volume of household waste going to landfill and incineration, saves consumers money and encourages recycling.
“The Government should use the intervening period to commence a significant national awareness campaign on the benefits of pay by weight to bring the public on board with the initiative, and ensure that waste companies cannot exploit the change to rip people off for reducing their waste.”