Zoe Kavanagh

I've just come from Bloom.

We had a business breakfast with our members and actually with waste industry, all of us coming together.

to ensure that we're supporting people in complying with the new regulation.

And the biggest opportunity we see is threefold.

First of all, repack members today represent 60% of the packaging in the Irish marketplace.

The regulation opens the door for us to bring in the other 40%.

And by bringing in the other 40%, it means we're creating a field of fair play.

We'll bring in more income, which will help fund the recycling endeavour.

Yet this regulation actually is good because it will simplify packaging materials.

It will ensure that packaging materials in the marketplace can be recycled, which therefore means that that effort in the household or if business is using the three bins correctly should ensure that we have greater outcomes.

And actually, the recycling targets in the new regulation are increasing.

So

We do well in Ireland, 61% recycling rate of packaging material.

That needs to go to 65%.

Plastic is what's holding us back.

We need to do much, much more on plastic.

The other benefit of the regulation is, and we've all been there, we've all opened our front door to a delivery and we've ordered something and it's rattling around in a big box.

The regulation actually is going to say, hang on, minimise the space, be much more efficient, minimise the materials.

So there will be good environmental outcomes,

It's almost short-term pain for long-term gain.