THE EU: EU environment ministers have no "big bang" solution to prevent Europe's waste mountain from growing year by year, with the latest figures showing an average annual output of 3.8 tonnes per person.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, admitted there were no easy answers to the problem after hosting an informal meeting of the EU Environment Council in Waterford at the weekend. "I don't think we have a package, either in Ireland or Europe."
However, ministers are expected to adopt a new "thematic strategy" on waste prevention and recycling at their next meeting in Luxembourg on June 28th.
Member-states "must now explore more imaginative means of tackling the waste we create", Mr Cullen said.
"We have seen at home that progress is being made on recycling, but we are not any way near the levels we need to be at."
Mr Cullen has been urged by Mr John Hontelez, head of the European Environmental Bureau, to set targets for waste prevention as well as a comprehensive framework of "tools" to ensure these targets are achieved.
The informal meeting, held on Saturday at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), also focused on proposals to develop EU policy on the trans-boundary movement of waste, and the development of a "clean economics" agenda.
The EU Environment Commissioner, Mr Margot Wallström, said there had been an "open and frank" exchange of views on all of the issues at the meeting, which was the first Environment Council since EU enlargement on May 1st by 10 members.
There was "a lot of discussion about bottles" and mobile phones, including the possibility of requiring suppliers to take back used phones. They also discussed diapers, now ranked as the third largest category of domestic waste in the US.
She was dubious, however, about the idea of adopting a "zero waste" policy, following the examples of New Zealand and Nova Scotia, because it would be "difficult". Her preference was for a policy based on "no impact and less waste".
Asked whether he was embarrassed about ministers lunching in Dunmore East, where raw sewage is still being discharged into its harbour, Mr Cullen said "certainly not", adding that a contract had been placed for a new sewerage scheme.
Ms Wallström, who has taken several cases against Ireland for breaching EU directives, commented that there were "problems throughout Europe, and we wouldn't have many places to go if we were easily embarrassed".
After she indicated that the Commission was awaiting Ireland's plan to implement the EU Nitrates Directive, Mr Cullen said he was "working very hard on this", and would be bringing a package to Brussels by mid-summer.
A small number of protesters were held behind a cordon at the WIT and again at the Tower Hotel at the end of Waterford's quay, where their shouts were drowned out by drummers entertaining the EU party.
Fifty people attended an "alternative summit" organised by the South East Social Forum, at which Prof Paul Connett, a leading waste campaigner, said every time he comes to Ireland "it seems to be less green and turning grey".