Ireland sent over one million tonnes of waste abroad in 2022 because it lacked the capacity to treat it here, and the amount of waste generated each year in the country has grown by over 20% in the last decade.
Publishing the latest statistics, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that Ireland’s recycling rate has not improved over the last 10 years and that it is time to move away from a “wasteful linear economy”.
“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 EPA’s director of the office of environmental sustainability David Flynn said.
“The challenge for Ireland is to reverse these trends and significantly reduce waste production and increase reuse and recycling.”
Mr Flynn said that given current trends, Ireland is now almost certain to miss EU municipal and packaging recycling targets for 2025.
Construction and demolition waste accounted for over half of all waste generated in Ireland in 2022, the EPA said. Most of this is soil and stone waste.
The amount of municipal waste remains relatively static at 3.2 million tonnes.
While 15% of municipal waste was disposed to landfill, 42% was treated by energy recovery through incineration.
Brown bin decrease
Two-thirds of homes had a brown bin for food and organic waste in 2022, which was a 3% decrease from 2021.
However, new regulations brought in in 2023 meant waste collectors are obliged to provide all households with a brown bin.
The EPA report highlighted that incorrect segregation of waste is still very common in Irish household bins.
Almost two-thirds of waste placed in the general waste bin could’ve been segregated into the recycling or organic bin, it said.
In particular, food waste accounts for 17% of household unsegregated waste and this is an area where household recycling rates could improve.
Packaging waste remained unchanged at 1.2 million tonnes in 2022, with one-third (32%) of all plastic packaging generated in Ireland being recycled.
Meanwhile, 30,680 tonnes of single-use plastic bottles were put on the market in 2022.
Prior to the introduction of the new deposit return scheme, a collection rate of 49% was achieved.
“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,” the EPA said.
“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% by 2025,” it said.
Furthermore, the EPA highlighted that Ireland has an “over-reliance” on other countries to treat its waste with 38% of all municipal waste exported for treatment abroad in 2022.
The EPA’s Circular Economy Programme manager Warren Phelan said that deep change is needed right across the economy to accelerate the transition to a more circular economy.
Amount of waste generated has grown by 20% in the last decade
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