Ireland’s recycling rate has not improved in a decade: it is time to move away from a wasteful linear economy.
In 2022, Ireland generated 15.7 million tonnes of waste, equivalent to 8kg per person every day.
Ireland’s annual waste generation has grown by over 20% in the last decade.
Ireland is now almost certain to miss EU municipal and packaging recycling targets for 2025.
Ireland’s municipal recycling rate remains stagnant at 41% with no significant change in 10 years.
Many construction activities are highly waste intensive, accounting for half of all waste generated.
Ireland has a waste infrastructure gap with over 1.2 million tonnes of municipal waste exported to other countries in 2022.
The Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) has today published the Circular Economy and Waste Statistics Highlights Report 2022. This report identifies that Ireland generated 15.7 million tonnes of waste in 2022, which although a decrease on 2021 figures, still shows a growth of over 20% in the last decade.
Commenting on the report, Mr David Flynn, Director of the Office of Environmental Sustainability, EPA said: “Today’s report from the EPA 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. 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.”
Summary of data from the key sectors.
Construction and demolition waste:
Half of all waste generated in Ireland is construction and demolition waste. Most of this (85%) is soil and stone waste. Construction and demolition waste decreased by 8% to 8.3 million tonnes, driven primarily by reductions in soil and stone waste.
Municipal waste:
The total amount of municipal waste is relatively static at 3.2 million tonnes. This is a 1% increase from 3.17 million tonnes in 2021 and the same level as recorded in 2020.
Some 15% of municipal waste was disposed to landfill in 2021. Some 43% of municipal waste was treated by energy recovery through incineration.
Some 66% of Irish households had access to a brown bin for food and organic waste in 2022. This is a decrease of 3% from 2021. Regulatory changes in 2023 mean that waste collectors are now obliged to provide all households with a brown bin.
Packaging (including plastic packaging)
Total packaging waste remained unchanged at 1.2 million tonnes in 2022.
Some 32% of plastic packaging generated in Ireland in 2022 was recycled, up from 28% in 2021.
Single-use Plastics
Some 30,680 tonnes of single-use plastic bottles were placed on the market in 2022. A collection rate of 49% was achieved prior to the introduction of the new Deposit Return Scheme.
The report shows that over the last 10 years Ireland’s recycling rate has stagnated and mandatory targets for municipal and plastic packaging are at a high risk of not being met. Currently Ireland’s municipal waste recycling rate is unchanged at 41%, with a requirement to be at 55% by 2025. In addition, whilst recycling of packaging waste is 60%, this must reach 65% by 2025. In 2022 the plastic packaging recycling was 32%, up from 28% in 2021, however the recycling target for plastic packaging is 50 per cent by 2025. Positively, regarding construction and demolition (C&D) waste, 82% is recovered, the majority being used or recovered in back filling for land restoration. This is in excess of the 70% recovery rate required.
The report also 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% (1.2 million tonnes) of all municipal waste was exported for treatment. This included 369,000 tonnes of residual waste exported for energy recovery through incineration.
Commenting on the report findings Mr Warren Phelan, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme said: “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. 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.” The EPA’s national waste statistics are published HERE on the EPA website. The Circular Economy and Waste Statistics Highlights Report 2022 is available HERE on the EPA website.
New data identifies disparities persisting in survival cancer rates around Ireland, following a new report, from National Cancer Registry Ireland, (NCRI) covering years 2020 to 2022. This report examines the four most common forms of cancers in Ireland; namely lung, bowel, breast and prostate cancers.
During the aforementioned period an average of 44,000 tumours were diagnosed each year, with over half potentially life-changing and requiring extensive treatments.
Some 9,800 deaths were recorded annually, with one in five of these fatalities relating to lung cancer. An estimated 220,000 people, (or 4% of the population), were identified as living with, or in long-term remission from the disease.
The survival rate, five years after diagnosis, for those with colorectal, lung or breast cancer was found to be lowest in the mid-west region, latter which covers North Tipperary, Clare and Limerick; with survival rates remaining between four and five percentage points lower, when compared with similar cases in the rest of Ireland.
This report demonstrates the very necessary and urgent need for improvements within the mid-west region, when it comes to prevention, screening and early diagnosis; right through to fast access to services and successful treatment outcomes.
A final decision on the report had been previously delayed for further consultation; with a second traffic system trialled over a period of 3 days, instead of the 4 days originally agreed. However, the initial plan, formulated by Transport Infrastructure Ireland(TII) was proposed, yesterday, by Fine Gael Cllr. Ms Peggy Ryan and seconded by Fianna Fail Cllr. Sean Ryan, thus giving same idiotic plan the “green light”.
Yesterday evening, following the approved of this controversial plan, we understand that traders reacted angrily, with the latter holding banners stating, “It’s OK to say NO” and “120 Job Losses”.
The new plans, which are expected to take several years to implement, will involve changing the traffic system reduced to one lane, thus accepting traffic and heavy goods vehicles converging from 3 lanes right in the very centre of town. It will also see a further reduction of, at least, 12-14 car parking spaces from west Liberty square, and the removal of mature trees to be replaced by miniature trees forcing a colony of 1,000 Pied Wagtails becoming homeless.
Thurles Municipal District Officials; Councillors together with other unsuspecting drivers are being asked to take great care when travelling on Upper Kickham Street, (N75), in Thurles, Co. Tipperary tomorrow. Due to recent frosts, a section of the road surface, which had been dug up, has now totally disintegrated leaving huge craters directly opposite Aldi(on North side) and close to the entrance to Monakeeba housing estate(on South side).
State of road surface on Kickham Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Four living craters now currently exist on both sides of this traffic infested roadway, and have done so for the past two weeks. Despite being invisible to travelling motorists, these craters, as expected, have received absolutely no maintenance attention. But then again, it’s cold and Thurles Municipal District Officials don’t get out all that much in this type of weather.
The only reason I mention this tonight is because Thurles Councillors could be travelling into Thurles as expected tomorrow, to rubber stamp the planned Phase 2 upgrade for Liberty Square etc.
Thurles Town centre traders already having lost at least 40% to 60% of former footfall, under the Phase 1 upgrade, are expected to also be in attendance; to protest against these planned illogical and fallacious changes, same formulated by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and expected to be supported by aforementioned officials and some recently elected, unqualified councillors.
We will be looking at this matter more fully and in greater detail after tomorrows decisive meeting, which will no doubt be demanding immediate resignations.
Local Authorities must effectively prioritise enforcement resources to protect and improve the environment
The prioritisation of enforcement resources on waste activities delivered improvements and positive environmental outcomes, such as the detection and cessation of illegal waste activities.
Local authorities did not adequately prioritise their enforcement resources to water, air and noise in 2023, with poor inspection rates and follow up actions.
Farm inspection rates are far below the level required to drive compliance and improve water quality.
Local authorities need to ensure that only approved solid fuels are available for sale, to protect public health from harmful air pollutants.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published its report on the environmental enforcement performance of local authorities in 2023. The report shows that the scale of environmental enforcement work carried out by local authorities in 2023 was significant. Across the 31 local authorities, 547 staff handled over 70,000 environmental complaints, carried out over 212,000 environmental inspections, undertook 17,000 enforcement actions and initiated 470 prosecutions.
Environmental Enforcement Activity & Performance. Tipperary sadly well down the list.
The EPA’s Local Authority Performance Framework measures and reports on performance against National Enforcement Priorities, focused on improving environmental compliance and achieving positive outcomes for water quality, air quality and waste management.
The EPA’s assessment of local authority environmental enforcement performance in 2023 found that eight local authorities achieved a Strong or Excellent score in 17 or more of the 20 National Enforcement Priorities (NEPs). These were Kildare, Meath, Dublin City, Monaghan, Carlow, Cork County, Donegal and Wicklow County Councils. For the second consecutive year, Kildare County Council were the only local authority that achieved a Strong or Excellent score across all 20 NEPs. Meath County Council achieved an Excellent score in 15 NEPs and a Strong score in 4 more NEPs, which was the highest level of Excellent scores of all local authorities. Dublin City Council achieved a Strong or Excellent score in 16 of the 17 NEPs that apply to their functional area.
Six local authorities failed to achieve a Strong or Excellent score in 10 or more of the 20 NEPs. These were Westmeath, Galway City, Waterford, Wexford, Sligo and Kilkenny County Councils. This level of performance is not good enough and needs to improve.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Dr Tom Ryan, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “The effective enforcement of environmental law is essential to identify polluters and non-compliant operators, and to hold them to account. Local authority leadership is critical in delivering better environmental outcomes through the prioritisation of environmental enforcement and the appropriate allocation of resources.”
Water Enforcement: Agriculture continues to have a significant impact on water quality, resulting in excess levels of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) to enter our waterways. Mr Patrick Byrne, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “While the number of local authority farm inspections increased by 9% to 1,137 in 2023, the number is still too low. More farm inspections and follow-up enforcement is needed to reach the National Agricultural Inspection Programme target of 4,500 farms inspected in 2025, to improve water quality. We’re calling on local authorities to use their full suite of enforcement powers to drive compliance with the Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) Regulations and improve water quality.”
Air & Noise Enforcement:
In 2023, local authorities assigned a much lower level of resources to air and noise enforcement (8%) than waste enforcement (63%) and water enforcement (29%). Whilst Ireland’s air quality met EU standards in 2023, it did not meet the health-based WHO guidelines and there were concerning localised issues which led to poor air quality. A strong inspection campaign of solid fuel producers and retailers is needed by local authorities, to make sure only approved solid fuels are available for sale and to protect public health from harmful air pollutants.
In 2023, many local authorities made little progress on implementing their Noise Action Plans (NAPs), aimed at reducing people’s exposure to transport noise. Greater action is needed to reduce the impact of noise pollution on people’s health and wellbeing. Local authorities, in collaboration with transport infrastructure bodies, need to focus implementation of NAPs on the priority areas identified using strategic noise mapping.
Waste Enforcement: Waste generation continues to grow and recycling rates for municipal and plastic packaging waste streams need to increase urgently to achieve 2025 targets. For household & commercial waste, waste collectors are required to provide a 3-bin waste segregation service. Local authorities must target areas with low use of the 3-bin service where provided, to maximise waste recovery.
Local authorities need to target waste enforcement actions to drive compliance with the new national by-product criteria for greenfield soil and stone and waste recovery levy regulations, to reduce construction and demolition (C&D) waste.
The Local Authority Environmental Enforcement Performance Report 2023 is available HEREon the EPA website.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Recent Comments