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In October last year, Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD, sought the public’s views on the type of DRS that would be suitable in an Irish context. Having considered the 364 submissions received, he is now publishing a draft legislative framework for further observations and submissions. This framework, when finalised after consultation, will enable the introduction of a DRS in Ireland by Q3 2022.
We understand that the Department wishes to develop a bare-bones regulation where the detail will be developed by the Minister and the Systems Operator in the approval process, but we need to ensure that this system is robust and future-proofed to ensure transparency, effectiveness and ambition no matter who is the Minister of the Department. The ultimate goal for Ireland is to move towards a circular economy and move up the waste hierarchy towards more waste prevention and reuse. This scheme is a good vehicle to start this transition and we need the ambition to move the industry and consumers towards more reuse opportunities and new business models that provide local employment and use or reuse locally produced material.
VOICE DRINKS CONTAINERS DEPOSIT Return SCHEME (DRS) CONSULTATION SUBMISSION
7th May 2021
VOICE welcomes the proposed legislation as a step towards the promotion of the wise use of natural resources and the creation of a robust container collection and potential reuse system that will enable a truly circular economy.
VOICE concurs with many of the elements of the proposed DRS regulatory framework in terms of producer responsibility and retailer’s role in the sale and collection and reimbursement of the deposit for drinks containers. We also support the retention of deposits by the waste recycling industry where the containers are collected through kerbside collection and recycled by the waste company. However, there are a few areas where we need more transparency, clarification and ambition.