Funferal

Who should pay for disposal of freesheets?

Dublin is one of the cities to see the emergence recently of free daily morning newspapers, with the Metro chain expanding into Ireland and being challenged by a new paper from the Independent group of newspapers (which already sells the Evening Herald title in Dublin). Now Labour deputy Ruairi Quinn has highlighted the costs of disposing of these newspapers, and called on the companies to pay towards these costs:

More than 100,000 copies of these newspapers are being distributed in the city each day. The City Council estimates that 10 tonnes of paper from these freesheets are in circulation daily. If they end up in regular bins, the cost for recycling is €1000 per ton. Even if these papers end up in green bins it costs €500 per ton to recycle.

The numbers are extensive – €2m per year – and there are obviously differences between these newspapers – distributed at traffic lights to commuters, etc. – and those bought in stores, since these are perhaps more likely to be discarded in bins on the street rather than in offices or homes, but it does lead to questions about the cost of disposing of newspapers/magazines in general. I know there are provisions for manufacturers to contribute to the cost of disposing of household appliances and similar. I wonder how easily this could extend to purchases such as newspapers (and what effect this would have on what is, over all, a declining market sector). I should also mention, of course, the need to distinguish meaningfully between commercial products like these freesheets and smaller alternative papers and political leaflets. (Commercial flyering on streets is also a growing problem in Ireland.)