A new body overseeing the State’s waste management policy will be created as part of a €127 million grant scheme allocated under the National Development Plan.
Publishing a new policy statement Preventing and Recycling Waste: Delivering Changetoday, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, said the €127m would be used to support infrastructure geared towards waste prevention and recycling.
"More waste prevention plus more recycling equals less waste equals less landfills," said the minister.
Mr Dempsey said the target of recycling 25 per cent of packaging waste had been achieved and that the recently introduced 15-cent plastic bag levy was already having a dramatic effect.
He said the increasing provision of segregated waste collection was a sign of the progress made in recent years but stressed the need for accelerating change. "The policies and initiatives being launched here today will deliver that change," Mr Dempsey said.
"All the players must pull in the same direction and with the same degree of focus and urgency. So we need better structural arrangements" he continued.
The establishment of the National Waste Management Board will co-ordinate the structural changes and advise on all aspects of waste management policy. Mr Dempsey promised the board would be appointed quickly.
A National Waste Prevention Programme is also to be implemented by the EPA in order to eliminate production waste.
Minister Dempsey announced that the second environmental levy, on the landfilling of waste, will come into force on June 1st this year at €15 per tonne.
"Both this and the plastic bag levy will be assigned to the new Environment Fund. This will support the new initiatives announced here today, as well as a wide range of recycling and other environmental issues".