Recycling within the Republic itself actually decreased from 2004 to 2005, according to the latest National Waste Report from the Environmental Protection Agency.
” Recycling is up across the board, but the landfilling of waste is also increasing, reflecting an overall increase in waste generation and material consumption in Irish society and business. “
– Dr Gerry Byrne, EPA
Also, the report noted that progress diverting biodegradable waste from landfill – as required by Europe's Landfill Directive – was “relatively slow” in 2005.
Major problems were also seen with household waste going astray under the country's move to pay-by-weight charging systems.
Just under 35% of municipal waste was recovered during 2005, including the 23% of household waste, but the country's landfill rate for household waste was 77%. Ireland increased its kerbside collection network by 49% in 2005, while bring bank and civic amenity facilities increased in number by 8%.
The Republic also hit its national packaging waste recovery targets, the report said, with 60% of packaging waste being recovered or recycled.
Exports
But the tonnage of recycling within the Republic itself dropped from 315,628 tonnes in 2004 to 234,696 tonnes in 2005.
The report noted that 83% of all Irish waste recycling took place abroad, compared to 74% the year before. Total waste exports – including for landfill and incineration – totalled 534,198 tonnes for the Republic, of which 55% went to Germany, 17% to Northern Ireland and 14% to mainland Britain.
Despite the dependence on exports, the Environmental Protection Agency hailed the achievements as proof the country is on track to meet its national and European waste targets. These include the national target to cut the landfilling of household waste in half by 2013.
Dr Gerry Byrne, EPA programme manager said: “Recycling is up across the board, but the landfilling of waste is also increasing, reflecting an overall increase in waste generation and material consumption in Irish society and business.”
Missing waste
However, the report noted that almost a quarter of Irish households still had no access to waste collection services in 2005, or chose not to use them.
With its “pay as you throw” waste charging system, some 202,940 tonnes of “uncollected” waste in the Republic remains a headache for the authorities, and work is being carried out to find out what is happening to this waste.
Dr Byrne said: “The collection of household waste remains an important public service on public health and environmental grounds. Although 48 per cent of household waste is collected by private sector operators, local authorities should continue to take reasonable steps to ensure that all householders are provided with, and use, a waste collection service.”
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The Republic's construction and demolition waste increased by 4 million tonnes in 2005 compared to the year before, reaching a total of 15 million tonnes. A recycling rate of 87% was reported by the waste management industry for this material, although this rate dropped to 43% when soil and stones were excluded from the results.
Dr Byrne said: “The initiative is now with the construction sector to implement national guidelines on waste monitoring at the site level, thus improving the quality of information and providing contractors with on-site information to plan effectively for waste prevention and recycling.”
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