Ireland is now “almost certain” to miss mandatory EU recycling targets that apply from 2025 onwards, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA’s Circular Economy and Waste Statistics Highlights Report 2022 found that Ireland’s recycling rate has not improved in a decade as the agency called for a move away from a linear economy.
The report showed that Ireland generated 15.7 million tonnes of waste, equivalent to 8kg per person every day, which although is a decrease on 2021 figures, still shows an overall growth of over 20% in the last ten years.
The EPA found that recycling rates for municipal waste, which is produced in household and commercial settings, was 41%, with no significant change in the decade.
In 2022, the plastic packaging recycled was at 32%, up from 28% in 2021, however Ireland is currently unlikely to make targets as the recycling target for plastic packaging is 50% by 2025.
The EPA said 43% of municipal waste was treated by energy recovery and 16% was disposed of in a landfill.
The agency found that 66% of Irish households had access to a brown bin for food and organic waste in 2022, which was a decrease of 3% from 2021.
The report notes that regulatory changes in 2023 meant that waste collectors are now obliged to provide all households with a brown bin.
The EPA said a collection rate of 49% was recorded for single-use plastic bottles and this was achieved before the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme earlier this year.
The research also stated that construction activities are highly waste intensive, accounting for half of all waste generated.
Regarding construction and demolition waste, 82% was recovered, the majority being used or recovered in back filling for land restoration. This was in excess of the 70% recovery rate required.
This EPA report 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 general municipal waste.
In 2022, 38% or 1.2 million tonnes of all municipal waste was treated outside Ireland.
The report shows that over the last ten years Ireland’s recycling rate has stagnated and mandatory targets for municipal and plastic packaging are at a high risk of not being met.
According to EU targets for 2025, municipal waste has a recycling target of 55%, recycling of packaging waste must reach 65% and plastic packaging must reach a recycling target of 50%.
The Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability David Flynn said the report showed 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,” Mr Flynn said.
“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.”
The EPA’s Programme Manager for the Circular Economy Programme Warren Phelan said that “deeper change is needed right across the economy to accelerate the transition to a more circular economy.”
Mr Phelan added that more will need to be done to change the current recycling approaches used by businesses.
“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”.
