Irish pay-as-you-throw leads to 24% glass recycling increase

Rehab Recycling – the company responsible for about 90% of glass recycling collections in Ireland – has said that so far 24,000 tonnes of glass bottles and jars has been collected, representing a 24% increase on the same period in 2003.

If the collection rate continues for the rest of the year, the company said 2004 would see 100 million glass containers recycled by Irish householders.

Local authorities in Ireland are introducing new charging systems for household waste collection services, based on the weight of waste householders generate. The Irish government has given them until January 2005 to adopt the systems, and since glass is a particularly heavy material, expectations are that householders are being encouraged to take it to recycling centres and bring banks.

Ireland's packaging waste compliance scheme, Repak, hailed the “pay-as-you-throw” charging system as a prime reason for the increase in glass recycling. Repak's chief executive Andrew Hetherington, said: “With the introduction of pay by weight and pay by use planned for next year, getting into the recycling habit can make a big difference to your household bin charges.”

Cork
Cork was named as the top county for the recycling of glass, recycling an average of 112 items of glass per household during the first eight months of 2004. The west of the county began its pay-by-use charging system in June 2003 (see letsrecycle.com story). Cork county council said this year that the amount sent to landfill had fallen from 137,000 tonnes in 2002 to just 93,000 tonnes in 2003 as a result.

The biggest increase in glass recycling was seen in Louth, which increased its yields by 113% compared to the same period in 2003.

Rehab Recycling collects glass from 1,700 sites throughout Ireland, reprocessing over 45,000 tonnes of glass each year. Commenting on the new figures, the company's general manager, Bob Rowat, said: “Breaking the 100 million barrier for household glass recycling marks an important landmark in the growth of real action to protect and preserve our environment and Ireland's green image.”