Waste collection scheme's success

While I congratulate the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment for the service being provided by the kerb side collection of packaging waste, my observation is, will the kerb side service short circuit the bring-in sites and will it be at a cost to the user?

According to the press given to the kerbside scheme, it seems that most of the waste collected to date was from the households, and the waste is the same as that taken to the bring-in sites. It is true that a percentage of this waste might have originated from households which were unable to use the bring-in sites. It is also a valid argument that an easy-to-use facility will encourage most households to use this service. Maybe Wasteserv will provide some reliable data in the future.

There is nothing wrong with the system; in fact it is making our life easier, with fewer trips to the bring-in sites. Obviously, this must come at a cost to the users - it's not if but when. As a matter of fact there is already a departure in the cost. Originally, the bags were meant to be provided free of charge by the retailers in the form of colour-coded plastic shopping bags. These were intended to facilitate waste separation at source by the household, which were to be collected by the kerb side scheme operator.

While the original paper drawn up by the ministry is quite exhaustive about the responsibility of the producers and waste separation and collection system, in my opinion on a national level the three R's - reduce, reuse, recycle - at the beginning of the product cycle and during its lifetime are as yet sluggish starters.

On the other hand if there was enough data to analyse the success or otherwise of the producer's responsibilities towards the EU package and package waste directives, then improvement or remedial action could be formulated. But it is also true that the waste arising from package material has increased.