Study shows 19% drop in dumping of organic waste

WE made huge strides in diverting biodegradable waste from landfills last year – with a 19% drop in the amount of food, garden and other organic waste being dumped, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) latest waste report.

But even with this drop of 279,000 tonnes, we must divert another 280,000 tonnes of this waste by the end of this year if the country is to avoid hefty EU fines for breach of the landfill directive. This EU law stipulates that by January 2010, we can only landfill a maximum of 967,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste. By 2016, this figure has to drop to 451,000 tonnes.

The 2008 Waste Report, published today, revealed the amount of waste generated by households and commercial business fell by 5% last year in line with the economic downturn. The amount of food, garden and organic waste collected in brown bins and at civic amenity sites doubled. Most of this waste was collected by the local authorities but the EPA says this figure must continue to increase and to do so, more private waste operators must begin offering brown bin services. The private waste sector makes up 57% of the waste disposal market.

Just 21% of Irish households have access to a three-bin service of regular waste in a black bin, dry recyclables in a green bin and organics in a brown bin.

Overall, Irish household recycling rates remained at 26% of all waste managed in 2008 while recovery of packaging waste increased by 1% to 65%. Nine kilos of household electronic equipment per capita was collected in this country last year – a figure that is double the EU target of 4 kilos per capita per year.

EPA programme manager Dr Gerry Byrne said the 2008 waste reductions are welcome but we must continue to focus on resource efficiency to ensure that when economic growth does return, it is not accompanied by a surge in waste generation. Dr Byrne pointed out that from next year, all licensed landfill and incinerator operators will have to prove the waste they accept has been subjected to appropriate pre-treatment, meaning that as much waste as possible collected has been recovered or treated to minimise waste impact.

It’s expected these licences will force waste collection services to segregate biodegradable waste at the kerbside so they can comply with the landfill licence.

Senior EPA Inspector, Dr Jonathan Derham said yesterday better waste prevention policy and greater efficiency in the use of waste, water and energy “can assist households and businesses alike, to improve resource efficiency and significantly cut costs”.

In today’s report the EPA also called for the recommendations in the international review of waste management policy to be delivered as quickly as possible. This report, published last week, called for accelerated investment in organic waste treatment machinery.