17th February 2005

Foreign Affairs 

Waste Disposed Of In The Department

Ciarán Cuffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total weight of waste that his Department produces within its own offices in the last year for which figures are available; the breakdown of he weight produced by paper, glass, aluminium and steel cans, textiles, plastics, organic waste, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries, hazardous waste and mixed waste respectively; the percentage of weight in each category which is recycled; and the details of any contracts his Department has for this disposal, reduction or re-use of waste.

Minister For Foreign Affairs:

The Department’s records show that, in 2004, 223,890Kg of waste was produced, of which 12.23% (27,390Kg ) was re-cycled. No breakdown of either figure is available but the re-cycled portion comprised paper and an amount of aluminium cans. My Department does not produce significant amounts of hazardous or organic waste, or of waste textiles, plastic or glass. It is the Department’s policy to re-cycle electrical and electronic equipment but no figure is available in respect of the amount of such waste re-cycled in 2004. The removal of waste is paid for on a collection basis and the Department does not have any formal contracts for the disposal of waste.

Recyclable waste produced by the Department’s offices at Bishop’s Square is included in the above figures. As the building is shared with several other tenants, the building management control the disposal of other waste for the whole building and they are not in a position to provide detailed information on the volume of waste produced in the Department’s offices for the period in question.