Cost of collecting recyclable packaging set to rise

The cost of collecting recyclable packaging from households, much of the contents of the average "green bin", is set to rise significantly, Repak said yesterday.

However, Repak said it does not expect charges to be introduced for the usually free green bin recycling services.

Repak, which subsidies the collection of packaging waste, says instead it wants to see an increase in the range of industries which are required to fund its activities.

Just 61 per cent of eligible firms are members of Repak. They pay Repak a fee which last year financed the collection of 64 per cent of used packaging, at a cost of €22.6 million.

Repak chief executive Andrew Hetherington has warned that as the EU targets increase, the figure of 64 per cent of packaging waste will have to rise. He wants more companies to be required to join Repak to raise an estimated additional €18 million a year to fund increased collection.

Repak is also concerned that many industries, among them the newspaper industry, are getting a free ride as papers are recycled in green bins without publishers having to be members of Repak.

According to Repak, part of the problem is that only companies placing 25 tonnes of packing on to the market each year are required to either be a member of Repak or make their own arrangements.

Mr Hetherington wants to see this threshold reduced to 10,000 tonnes as well as greater constraints on businesses which, he believes, are avoiding their obligations entirely.

It is predicted that the cost of recycling packaging by 2011 will be about €45 million, figures which Repak claims underscore the urgency of the situation.

While membership of Repak has grown in recent years to 2,165 companies, the organisation argues it is not sustainable to keep billing existing membership with annual double-digit percentage rises and that more must be done to force others to join or accept responsibility for their packaging waste in some other way.

Since 1997 the organisation has invested €118 million in supporting recycling. Waste collectors sell their recyclables on the open market and claim a subsidy from Repak on proof of sales.

Materials recovered which are sold include glass, metals, cardboard and wood. These are collected free in a bid to encourage householders to divert them from the "black bin" waste to recycling.

Mr Hetherington said the significant increase in household recycling of 36 per cent in 2006 indicated that "communities are committed to recycling provided they are supported with effective recycling infrastructure".