IRELAND IS PRODUCING more waste now than it did a decade ago and is “almost certain” to miss EU recycling targets next year.
In 2022, Ireland generated 15.7 million tonnes of waste, according to a new report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
That’s 20% more waste than ten years prior, spelling trouble for Ireland’s efforts to reduce waste and move towards a circular economy.
Ireland’s progress towards a circular economy – a system of minimising waste and reducing the need for new raw materials by upholding the quality of products and materials for longer - is “stalling”, said David Flynn, the director of the EPA’s office of environmental sustainability.
“Current measures to prevent waste, to promote reuse and to encourage recycling are not enough to meet mandatory municipal waste and plastic packaging targets,” Flynn said.
The challenge for Ireland is to reverse these trends and significantly reduce waste production and increase reuse and recycling.
“Strong implementation of existing policies and the introduction of new measures that support investment in new circular economy infrastructure will help move us away from a wasteful linear economy.”
Ireland’s municipal waste recycling rate stood at 41% in the latest EPA report but needs to reach 55% by 2025.
Recycling of packaging waste was at 60% but must be at 65% by 2025 to comply with the targets. 32% of plastic packaging was recycled, which was up from 28% in 2021 but the 2025 target is 50%.
Ireland generated 3.2 million tonnes of municipal waste (day-to-day waste from homes, offices, schools etc) in 2022, a slight increase from the previous year.
More than 1.2 million tonnes of the municipal waste (38%) was exported to other countries.
The EPA said that this highlights that Ireland’s capacity to collect and treat waste is vulnerable and underperforming, with an over-reliance on other countries to treat our recycling materials and overall municipal waste.
Half of Ireland’s waste is associated with construction and demolition, 85% of which is made up of soil and stone. In a positive, the EPA said, 82% of construction waste was recovered and much of it was used or recovered in back filling for land restoration, which was in excess of a required 70% recovery rate.
The proportion of households with access to a brown bin for food and organic waste dropped by 3% between 2021 and 2022 to 66%. This figure will likely rise in the years to come though as changes in 2023 mean waste collectors must provide households with a brown bin.
The EPA’s programme manager for circular economy Warren Phelan said that Ireland’s economy is characterised by a high consumption of raw materials.
“However deeper change is needed right across the economy to accelerate the transition to a more circular economy,” he said.
“Effective regulation, incentives and enforcement are required to influence businesses and consumers to adopt best practices in production, supply, purchasing, use and reuse of goods, products and services.”
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