Recycling rates in Ireland are not keeping pace with increasing levels of waste generation, a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found.
Municipal waste amounted to 3.17 million tonnes in 2021, which represents a decrease of 1% from 3.2 million tonnes in 2020. However, just over 1.3 million tonnes was recycled.
A total of 16% of municipal waste was disposed to landfill, while 41.5% was treated by energy recovery through incineration, the Circular Economy and Waste Statistics Highlights Report 2021 published today (Tuesday, November 28) shows.
In total 38% of municipal waste was exported for treatment in 2021, including 382,000t of residual waste exported for energy recovery through incineration, the EPA said.
In 2021, Ireland generated 1.2 million tonnes of packaging waste of which 69% was exported for treatment. Just under 28% of plastic packaging was recycled, including 7% recycled in Ireland.
Recycling rates
Municipal waste recycling rates remained unchanged at 41% in 2021, while packaging recycling fell by 4% to 58%, according to latest EPA figures.
Construction and demolition (C&D) waste increased by 10% to 9 million tonnes and packaging waste is up by 9% to 1.2 million tonnes. Municipal waste generation remained static.
The collection rate of End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) rose by 22.5%, while hazardous waste decreased by 16% in 2021. Collection of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) was up by 10% to 72,000t.
Ireland is off track to meet mandatory EU recycling targets set to apply from 2025 for municipal waste, packaging waste and plastic packaging waste.
These targets are set to progress the circular economy by prioritising recycling over energy recovery and landfill and are as follows:
- Recycle 55% of municipal waste by 2025, 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035;
- Recycle 60% of packaging waste by 2025 and 70% by 2030;
- Recycle 50% of plastic packaging by 2025 and 55% by 2030;
- Collect 65% of WEEE;
- Reuse and recycle 85% of ELVs;
- Recover 70% of C&D waste.
Continued high levels of waste generation coupled with stagnating recycling rates mean that it is now very unlikely that Ireland will meet these mandatory EU recycling targets, the EPA said.
Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, David Flynn said: “We continue to throw away far too much, wasting valuable materials.
“We live on a resource-finite planet and resource extraction causes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity loss and water stress.
“To reduce these impacts, we must accelerate our transition from a linear economy to a circular, more resource-efficient economy. Right now, we need to focus on avoiding waste.”
Circular economy
Ireland’s economy remains linear with waste generation continuing to rise, rather than a circular economy in which materials are recirculated and reused, and waste is minimised.
National capacity to treat residual non-hazardous and hazardous wastes need to be developed to build resilience and reduce our dependence on treatment facilities in Europe, the EPA said.
Ireland is “overly reliant” on the export of waste for treatment, programme manager of the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme, Warren Phelan said, but added:
“We do not have enough facilities for the treatment of non-hazardous and hazardous waste, which are missed opportunities to capture the energy and economic value of these wastes.”
To address this, the EPA said Ireland needs to:
- Improve waste prevention especially in the C&D sector;
- Roll-out a brown bin service for organic waste to all customers, up from 69% in 2021;
- Improve waste segregation by businesses and householders putting their waste into
the correct bins; - Reduce our reliance on vulnerable export markets for our waste;
- Fully implement our Circular Economy Plan.
Ireland currently has the third lowest circular material use rate (CMUR) in Europe at 2%, compared to the EU average of 12%, the report shows.