Denis Naughten has accused members of the Oireachtas Environment Committee of “greenwashing” after it voted down his controversial amendment on introducing a national deposit-and-return scheme on plastic bottles and aluminium cans. In a blog posted on Tuesday evening after the committee signed off on the Green Party’s 2017 Waste Reduction Bill, the Minister for the Environment said: “What happened today . “The impact could be as low as a 1 per cent increase in the amount of household recycling. “It’s staggering the Minister is trying to scupper proposals for a DRS for plastic bottles, given the public mood on plastic waste,” he said. He added: “Denis Naughten appears to be adopting a cordial approach to action on plastic: dilute to taste.

Source: The Irish Times May 23, 2018 10:30 UTC