Cooney alleges that Repak, which is under the remit of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, collects €350,000 each year from co-ops and suppliers of agricultural products, but that less than 10% of the money collected is used to support recycling in the sector.

“In reality this money is not being used for its intended purpose,” Cooney said. “Farmers are not getting an adequate service and are instead having to pay higher prices at bring-centres organised by other agencies to have their packaging materials recycled.”

Repak is a packaging compliance scheme that funds the recycling and recovery of packaging placed on the market by its 2,085 commercial members.

Farmers have to bring most of their packaging to bring-centres at a higher cost so they are not getting value for money

Using the money it receives from its members, Repak subsidises the collection of every household recycling bin in the country, including those of farming households, to the tune of €65/t of packaging.

Farmers ‘losing out’

Cooney says that farmers are losing out more than any other sector because, unlike non-farming households, their recycling bin is not enough to deal with all their waste.

“Farmers are footing the bill for the levy agribusinesses place on products to compensate for the fee they give to Repak,” he said.

“But farmers have to bring most of their packaging to bring-centres at a higher cost so they are not getting anything like the value for money non-farming households are getting,” he continued.

Cooney is calling on Environment Minister Denis Naughten to direct Repak to make all funds provided to them by agribusinesses available to the Irish Farm Film Producers Group (IFFPG), the national farm plastics recycling compliance scheme, and its sister company Farm Plastics Recycling Ltd (FPR), to establish a permanent service for the annual collection of farmers’ waste packaging at a reduced cost.

Response

However, Repak and the Department of Communications and Environment have refuted Cooney’s comments, with a spokesman for Repak saying the €350,000 figure quoted by Cooney “is totally incorrect”.

“To say that ‘less than 10% of the money Repak collects from agribusinesses is used to support recycling in the sector’ is wildly inaccurate,” he said.

“It is important to understand that Repak’s responsibility is the recycling and recovery of household packaging through the recycling bin collections, of which a significant element is packaging generated by agri-related member companies. In addition, Repak subsidises the recycling and recovery of material directly from the agricompany members’ own business sites.”

Repak’s income fees from agribusinesses cover more than pure agricultural packaging

A spokesman for the Department said that Repak’s income fees from agribusinesses cover more than pure agricultural packaging.

“For many of those members it will also include their producer-to-consumer market such as foodstuff,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that Repak provides some funding to FPR, to dispose of agricultural plastics produced by some of its member companies.

Accessing more funding

However, Liam Maloney, general manager of IFFPG, claims the funding FPR receives only amounts to around 4% of Repak’s producer funding.

“If we could access more of that funding, we could reduce the costs for farmers at our bring-centres and stimulate more recycling among the farming community,” he said

Farmers generate a lot more waste than non-farming households

To date in 2016 FPR has received 1,000t of recyclable farm waste, including fertiliser products, meal products and plant protection products. This is the highest amount received by FPR since it was established in 2010 and is 35% higher than the amount farmers brought to be recycled last year.

“Farmers are running a business,” said Maloney. “They are generating a lot more waste than non-farming households. If we could charge a lower price to farmers by getting greater access to funding, then we could stop inhibiting the growth of the recycling industry in Ireland.”

Repak’s spokesman responded to Maloney’s remarks by saying that fertiliser bags of the kind recycled by FPR make up less than 1% of the 800,000t of material Repak recycles on the Irish market each year.

“The FPR is receiving a subsidy for the work being undertaken equitable with all other service providers,” he said.

The Department of Environment spokesman, however, said that Repak was asked to engage with FPR in relation to funding earlier this year. "We understand this is on-going," the spokesman told the Irish Farmers Journal.

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