There was less waste accepted for treatment at composting and anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities in Ireland 2022, according to a new report published today (Monday, December 16) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Latest figures show 510,000 tonnes was treated at composting and AD facilities in 2022.
This represented a decrease from 590,000 tonnes in 2021.
According to the EPA 33% of organic waste treated by composting or AD in 2022 was sent to Northern Ireland for treatment.
AD
However the EPA’s Circular Economy and Waste Statistics Highlights Report 2022 also shows that 334,000 tonnes of municipal biowaste was treated through composting or AD which is similar to 2021 levels.
This is out of 3.2 million tonnes of municipal waste generated by Ireland in 2022 which is virtually unchanged from 2021 and 2020 levels.
In total the country generated 15.7 million tonnes of waste in 2022 – which is equivalent to 8kg per person every day.
This was down on corresponding figures for 2021 – when an estimated 17.6 million tonnes of waste was generated but it still shows a growth of over 20% in the last decade.
The EPA estimated that Ireland generated 750,000 tonnes of food waste in 2022.
This means that year the average person threw out 145kg of food waste which is higher than the EU average of 130kg of discarded food waste per person.
David Flynn, director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability said today’s report shows that Ireland’s progress towards a circular economy is stalling.
“Current measures to prevent waste, to promote reuse and to encourage recycling are not enough to meet mandatory municipal waste and plastic packaging targets.
“The challenge for Ireland is to reverse these trends and significantly reduce waste production and increase reuse and recycling,” Flynn stated.
The latest EPA report highlights that half of all waste generated in Ireland is construction and demolition waste.
According to the agency most of this (85%) is soil and stone waste.
In 2022 construction and demolition waste decreased by 8% to 8.3 million tonnes, driven primarily by reductions in soil and stone waste.
In relation to construction and demolition waste, 82% is recovered, the majority being used or recovered in back filling for land restoration.
Plastic
When it came to packaging – including plastic packaging – waste in 2022 the total level remained unchanged at 1.2 million tonnes.
According to the EPA 32% of plastic packaging generated in Ireland in 2022 was recycled, up from 28 per cent in 2021.
However 30,680 tonnes of single-use plastic bottles were placed on the market in 2022 and a collection rate of 49% was achieved prior to the introduction of the new Deposit Return Scheme.
The EPA report also shows that over the last decade Ireland’s recycling rate has “stagnated and mandatory targets for municipal and plastic packaging are at a high risk of not being met”.