Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
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162. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the work of his Department towards ensuring that every householder has access to a reliable, clean and sustainable way of managing their food waste; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9890/22]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, published in September 2020, which is being delivered on a phased basis over the 5 year lifetime of the Plan, includes measures to improve household food waste management.

Measures include:

- Making the provision of an organic waste bin mandatory as part of a waste collection service for all households;

- Through changes to waste collection permits, and working with the Local Authority sector, ensuring that every householder has access to a reliable, clean and sustainable way of managing food waste;

- Working with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to make regulatory changes in planning and tenancy laws required to ensure apartment dwellers are provided with infrastructure to support food waste segregation;

- Using National Waste Collection Permit Office and other ‘brown bin’ data to develop strategies and investigate how new technology can support greater usage.

- Delivering sustained and visible public behavioural change campaigns to encourage waste prevention and recycling.

My officials have been engaging with key stakeholders with a view to delivering on a number of food waste commitments in as short a time frame as possible.  Actions that are being progressed include, for example, food waste separation awareness campaigns that involve the roll out of a number of household food waste kitchen food waste caddy packs to make it easier to manage food waste at home.  Approximately 300,000 kitchen food waste caddy packs will be funded by my Department over the next 2 years to support household food waste separation awareness initiatives.