More "realistic" recycling charges are expected to be set by the end of this month for low-cost electrical goods, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche promised yesterday.
He told the Dáil that the body which sets out the charges for recycling "has agreed to my request that it look immediately at the levels which apply to low- cost goods".
Fergus O'Dowd (FG, Louth) said the Minister had let producers of electrical equipment "off the hook" and that the only person paying for the recycling of white goods was the consumer.
Mr Roche had said there would be no increase in price for the consumer, "but he did not insist that the producers of the equipment would absorb this cost".
He called for the abolition of the charges of €1 to €3 for small items.
The Minister rejected the claim and said that "in the electrical and electronic goods area, there has been a significant decrease in costs and that continues to be the case".
