The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, is "urgently reviewing" the powers open to him to speed up the adoption of regional waste management plans throughout the State.
Addressing the seventh international conference of European Cities for Recycling at Dublin Castle yesterday, Mr Dempsey cited delays and difficulties which have dogged the process, mainly because of controversy over incineration and landfill options.
"Difficult decisions must be faced. We have to move forward on a viable and efficient basis," he declared. "I will now be urgently reviewing the measures available to me to facilitate early completion of an effective regional planning process."
Waste management was one of the most complex environmental challenges facing the State, with ever-increasing volumes. "Strenuous efforts must be made, and innovative approaches must be implemented, if we are to halt, and reverse, current trends," the Minister said.
He would shortly publish a new policy statement on waste minimisation and recycling, which would chart a way towards achieving the targets set down by the Government in its waste management policy, published two years ago.
This "clear policy" was aimed at transforming the way we thought about and dealt with our waste. It was firmly grounded on the internationally recognised waste hierarchy, which placed the priority on reduction, reuse and recycling over the disposal of waste.
"That must underpin our search for effective solutions and must, therefore, be reflected in the waste management planning process currently being advanced by our local authorities," he said. "We must change our ways to reflect best international practice."
The latest strategic planning initiative, which would lay the basis for unprecedented levels of capital expenditure on waste management infrastructure in the period to 2006, must place priority emphasis on progressive solutions, the Minister said.
As for dealing with wastes which are unavoidable, "we will have to move away from our traditional reliance on landfill towards an integrated approach which utilises a range of treatment options and delivers ambitious recycling and recovery targets".
In some cases, public debate had become unnecessarily polarised over thermal treatment versus landfill. It had to be broader to consider all the alternatives including, for example, composting, anaerobic digestion, incineration and newer thermochemical processes.
Mr Dempsey said it was up to the public authorities at central and local levels to provide leadership.
There was also a need for a high level of discipline to make real progress in waste management. It would take a concerted effort, well supported across society, to secure a sustained expansion in Ireland's recycling performance, currently among the lowest in the EU.
