Throwing money away: millions of euros are buried in landfills each year

IRELAND is throwing away €43 million every year by burying plastic bottles instead of recycling them, according to a report published yesterday.

The report, which was commissioned by packaging management group Repak, said 800 million plastic drinks bottles were currently being sent to landfill, representing more than 35,000 tonnes of material. This material could be worth up to €5 million if recycled but instead attracted a bill of €38 million in landfill costs.

Andrew Simmons of British recycling organisation Recoup told Repak’s annual members’ conference that plastic was a valuable material and that Ireland was well placed to recycle, with a large recycling plant in Co Meath that could handle three times the amount of plastic bottles generated here each year.

“As these materials are already being collected, what we need is a focus on integrating them in the current recycling collections,” said Mr Simmons.

Repak chief executive Andrew Hetherington said Ireland was on course to meet EU-imposed targets for recycling packaging next year.

More than 45% of used packaging was recycled last year, which was just short of the 50% target the country has pledged to meet in 2005. Ireland succeeded in meeting its 2001 target of recycling 25% of packaging.

But EU Commission representative Otto Linher said Ireland remains among the worst offenders in Europe for relying on landfill as a method of dealing with its waste.