At the launch of Repak’s Green Christmas recycling campaign, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley said that he had recently signed the EU’s Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations 2007.
Under the consolation regulations, producers are required to take back packaging and achieve targets for recovering and recycling that waste.
They can also join an approved scheme to support packaging waste recovery and recycling.
“Recycling rates for packaging have soared over the past decade,” Mr Gormley said.
“I am confident that we can build on the progress made through achieving higher recycling rates, but we also need to tackle the high levels of packaging waste being generated and deal effectively with litter from packaging, such as cans and bottles.
“I am confident that these new Regulations provide the platform for achieving even higher packaging waste recovery and recycling rates in the years ahead.”
The Minster also said that the Government was currently looking at options to tackle the ongoing problem of litter from packaging.
James Cooper