Cabinet approves the general scheme of the Circular Economy Bill 2021
The Government is to draft new legislation to implement a circular economy, involving a radical change to production and consumption, limiting single use products and clamping down on littering and dumping, among other measures. The Bill will implement many of the actions in the Government’s Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy and the forthcoming Circular Economy Strategy, and will put that strategy on a statutory footing.
The Bill will:
- Ensure all households have access to and use segregated waste services and incentivise the commercial sector to increase waste separation.
- incentivise the reuse and the use of recyclable alternatives to a range of wasteful single-use disposable packaging and other items, and will re-designate the existing Environment Fund as a Circular Economy Fund;
- provide for the GDPR-compliant use of range of technologies, such as CCTV for waste enforcement purposes, this will support efforts to tackle illegal dumping and littering;
- place the Circular Economy and National Food Loss Prevention Roadmap on a statutory footing, ensuring this issue remains a priority for future governments;
- streamline the processes for End-of-Waste and By-Products decisions, tackling the delays which can be encountered by industry; and
- consolidate Government’s policy of keeping fossil fuels in the ground by introducing prohibitions on exploration for and extraction of coal, lignite and oil shale.
Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD said;
“The Government is committed to a more ambitious, transformative approach to production and consumption to achieve a systemically circular economy. It is vital that waste and resource use are minimised by default; that good design preserves product value for as long as possible, via durability and repair; and that, when a product has reached the end of its life, its parts can be readily used again and again to create further useful products.
This Bill, along with the circular economy strategy which we will publish shortly will replace our current, unsustainable ‘take, make, dispose’ model with a circular economy that also helps us meet our Climate ambitions. The Bill will also empower local authorities deal with illegal dumping and littering, support food-waste prevention and incentivise the use of sustainable alternatives over wasteful single-use disposable items.”
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
Circular Economy Background
Delivering a circular economy will have positive environmental, economic and social impacts and 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 adopting towards circular economy practices, and the European Union 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 is currently finalising its first Whole-of-Government Circular Economy Strategy in order to ensure policy coherence across the public sector and to outline Government’s overall approach to the circular economy for stakeholders and the public.
The Circular Economy Bill, 2021 will go 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, e.g. through allowing for GDPR compliant use of CCTV and other technologies in enforcement actions. The upcoming Circular Economy Strategy will provide a national policy framework for Ireland’s transition to a circular economy. This Bill 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.