The Ireland’s Department of Environment, Climate and Communications has issued a press release dated June 15, 2021, stating the approval of the general scheme of the Circular Economy Bill, 2021 by the Cabinet. 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.
Key features of the Bill are:
- 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.
- It will ensure all households have access to and use segregated waste services and incentivise the commercial sector to increase waste separation, 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.
- It also provides 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
- It places the Circular Economy and National Food Loss Prevention Roadmap on a statutory footing, ensuring this issue remains a priority for future governments
- It streamlines the processes for End-of-Waste and By-Products decisions, tackling the delays which can be encountered by industry
- It also consolidates Government’s policy of keeping fossil fuels in the ground by introducing prohibitions on exploration for and extraction of coal, lignite and oil shale.
*Tanvi Singh, Editorial Assistant has put this story together.