2025-12-18

106. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the number of rPET pellets produced in the State; the amount of this product utilised within the State and the amount exported. [72997/25]

I have raised on a number of occasions issues relating to rPET plastic recycling in this State. With the introduction of the return scheme, which imposes a deposit charge on consumers every time they buy a plastic bottle that they then need to recoup, we need to ensure there is full transparency when it comes to all plastic that is collected under the scheme. Will the Minister of State detail the statistics relating to the number of rPET pellets that are recycled and produced in this State?

I thank the Deputy for his question and interest in this area. As matters stand, there are no official statistics confirming the number of rPET pellets produced or utilised in the State or the amount exported from the State. While statistics for the recycling of plastic packaging waste are reported to Eurostat by the EPA on an annual basis, the EU’s list of waste codes does not isolate individual polymers and, therefore, it is not possible to establish how much of this PET material is in existence. This is a shortcoming in the system and Department officials have engaged with the European Commission in relation to expanding the list of waste codes to provide greater granularity for plastic polymers. Ireland does not have some facilities which convert PET waste into rPET flakes or pellets, but we do not currently have a facility producing pellets of a food-grade quality. Due to strict EU food safety standards, rPET to be used in food or drink packaging must meet the highest recycling standard to be of food grade. Prior to the introduction of the deposit return scheme, PET plastic waste collected through our waste collection system was mostly recycled abroad. Since the introduction of Re-Turn, the deposit return scheme, DRS, operator can confirm that in 2024, it collected a total of 12,057 tonnes of PET plastics, which were sold on the open market. A total of 4,037 tonnes of material, which equates to 34%, was bought by companies in Ireland. For the first time, a separate and high-quality stream of PET is now available for recycling. Together with the requirement under the single use plastics directive to incorporate 25% of recycled plastic into PET beverage bottles from 2025, rising to 30% from 2030, the opportunity to invest in Ireland's circular economy has been boosted significantly.

The deposit return scheme means that ordinary people are charged an additional cost every time they buy a plastic bottle and then they have to go to what is often a huge inconvenience of gathering the bottles to retrieve their deposit. There have been a lot of unforeseen consequences. For example, people's household waste charges have increased because domestic collectors are not, as was previously the case, receiving plastic bottles when collecting waste. With schemes such as this, we need to be careful that consumers and the general population do not see this as a burden rather than a mechanism to increase recycling and improve the circular economy. This is not helped by the fact that almost 70% of the plastic that is collected is exported to third countries, despite the fact that we have companies in Ireland, such as Shabra Plastics and Packaging Limited in my constituency, that have the capacity to recycle this product. Will the Minister of State take a hands-on approach to ensure that we increase significantly and substantially the amount of plastic that is recycled in this State under this scheme?

I reassure the Deputy that Re-Turn has collected over 12,000 tonnes of this PET plastic, 34% of which, as I said earlier, is purchased by Irish companies. Separately, we have Repak, which funds the recycling of over 8,300 tonnes of plastic, 42% of which is reprocessed in Ireland. Is it enough? We need to do more and that is widely acknowledged. Certainly, with the introduction of the DRS, we have made a significant step forward with regard to fully recognising the stream of product that we have as a result of having a dedicated collection system for PET recycling. We also recognise that we need to continue to invest in recycling infrastructure. That must grow and that is why, through the extended producer responsibility, EPR, schemes, Re-Turn and Repak are now investing in their domestic capacity. We are engaging with Re-Turn with regard to a bottle-to-bottle PET plant. Certainly, we want to have more domestic capacity for recycling.

The lack of information and movement coming from the Department in this respect are completely unacceptable. The Government was quick to impose this charge on consumers but it has refused point blank to impose a charge on the use of virgin plastic, for example, something that would put a burden on the companies that are using virgin plastic, which is non-recyclable plastic. There are companies in this country that have the ability to recycle this product but Re-Turn sells the plastic to the highest bidder, regardless of the purpose or country. It means that people who are thinking they are doing the right thing recycling their plastic bottles can see their product going half way across the world in a way that no one could describe as being environmentally responsible. I will ask the question again. Will the Minister of State take a hands-on approach? Rather than just taking the word of Re-Turn or Repak, will he ensure his Department is fully across every single detail and is not allowing something that is penalising Irish consumers or potentially putting Irish companies at risk by the actions that Re-Turn might be taking?

To be clear, the plastic that is recycled is traded on the open market by Re-Turn. The State is constrained in intervening by EU state aid rules. That is why we comply through the EU waste framework, ensuring there is a regulatory environment to support Irish recyclers. All operators in Ireland can play a role in that . It is a complex challenge and we want to continue to provide support. With the supply chain we now have through PET plastic, we can continue to work with the industry on how we can support companies here and reduce our reliance on the export market. This is why Re-Turn is actively planning a multimillion euro facility to bring bottle-to-bottle PET recycling to Ireland. That would be a game-changer for many reasons would present a real circular economy initiative, to the Deputy's point, avoiding the exposure to the export market.

The Government also needs to protect those Irish companies that are already recycling.