State and Impacts

Relative to other EU Member States, Ireland’s waste infrastructure is not overly complex. There is a continued reliance on landfill, and for waste recovery/recycling, the majority of candidate materials are exported. Ireland has no merchant municipal waste incineration capacity, nor does it have any merchant hazardous waste incineration or hazardous waste landfill facility. Control of waste is split between the private sector and public sector, with the latter’s share continually decreasing.

Overall recycling/recovery rates continue to climb steadily, particularly in the municipal, packaging and Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) waste streams.

Municipal waste

Municipal waste in Ireland is made up of household waste, commercial waste (including non-process industrial waste) and cleansing waste (e.g., street sweepings, municipal parks and cemeteries maintenance waste). The amount of municipal waste produced has increased steadily over the last decade to approximately 3 million tonnes. However, there was a 5 per cent decrease in municipal waste produced in 2008 compared to 2007. Municipal waste recovery has increased dramatically over the last decade with 37.5 per cent of this waste recovered in 2008.

Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW)

BMW comprises those elements of the household, commercial and cleansing waste streams that will rot or degrade. The main constituents of the biodegradable proportion of municipal waste are typically parks and garden waste, food waste, timber, paper, card and textiles

The quantity of biodegradable municipal waste disposed at landfill decreased in 2008 to 1,196,044 t. Increased home composting and kerbside collection of organic waste are contributing to this trend. A further reduction of 280,000 t on the 2008 tonnages is needed to reach the July 2010 EU Landfill Directive target.

Producer responsibility initiative waste streams

Ireland has been compliant with all statutory packaging recovery targets set since 2001.  A recovery rate of 65 per cent is reported for packaging waste, exceeding the EU target of 60 per cent due in 2011.

In 2008 a total of 51,964 t of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) was collected for recovery. This included 9 kg per capita of household WEEE, exceeding the EU target of 4 kg per capita.

Other waste streams

The quantity of Irish construction and demolition (C&D) waste collected in 2008 diminished by 24 per cent, since 2007 to 13.5 million tonnes. The decline in the economy and the number of houses being built probably had a direct effect on this waste. The mining and aluminium production sectors continued to be the largest generators of non-hazardous industrial waste. There was a decrease of 10 per cent in the quantity of mining waste generated in 2008 compared to the last industrial survey in 2006.

Waste is classified as being hazardous when it displays properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. Industry is the largest generator of hazardous waste in Ireland, though substantial amounts are also generated by households, small businesses etc.

The quantity of hazardous waste managed has been increasing in recent years and is reported to be 319,098 t in 2008. The treatment of hazardous waste on-site at industrial facilities is declining in favour of the use of commercial hazardous waste treatment facilities in Ireland or abroad.