Ireland is on course to miss mandatory European Union recycling targets set for 2025, the country’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said, with another 400,000 tonnes of recycling needed to reach the target.
The EPA made the announcement as it revealed data on municipal, packaging and construction and demolition waste for the 2023 reporting year, which found that Ireland’s municipal recycling rate stood at 42%, significantly below the required 55% target.
Elsewhere, Ireland’s packaging waste recycling rate, at 59%, is also below the 65% target, while the country’s plastic packaging rate of 30% is well short of the 50% target, the EPA’s data showed.
‘Too high’
“Ireland’s waste generation is too high,” commented David Flynn, director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability. “Our report highlights that Ireland needs to make measurable progress on stalled recycling rates and reduce overall consumption. Ireland needs to recycle 400,000 more tonnes of waste each year than we currently do.
“To address this, we need investment in recycling infrastructure and to stop exporting a significant amount of our municipal waste to other countries.”
Municipal waste levels reached 3.1 million tonnes in 2023, up from 2.7 million tonnes in 2016, however recycling levels showed little improvement over the same period. Nearly half of the waste, around 1.2 million tonnes, was exported abroad for treatment.
Total packaging waste reached more than 1.2 million tonnes in 2023, the data showed. Ireland has already met – or exceeded – EU requirements when it comes to certain materials, such as glass and wood, but plastics remains a persistent issue.
‘Support innovation’
“Ireland’s economy uses significant raw materials producing valuable products and materials – but also lots of waste,” added Warren Phelan, programme manager of the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme.
“If we are serious about moving to an economy which values resources and materials, we need to support innovation for low waste businesses as well as lean production, remanufacturing and circular supply chains. Materials and wastes are a cost to businesses, we need to value and retain materials, and our policies must incentivise circular businesses.” Read more here.
