Nation ‘cutting back on waste’

We have finally as a nation embraced the notion of waste reduction — for the first time since records began, the volume of household and business waste recycled and "recovered" has exceeded the amount going to landfill.

In its National Waste Report 2012, published yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency gives two reasons for this improvement — and it’s not just the economy.

While the fall is linked to declining personal consumption as the economy contracted between 2007- 2012, it also, the EPA says, “indicates a trend towards improved waste prevention in the country”.

Municipal waste generation has decreased 21% since 2007, with the amount generated per capita down from 0.78 tonnes in 2007 to 0.59 tonnes of waste per person in 2012.

On foot of continuing improvements, Ireland is “now one of the top EU performers in relation to waste generation per capita and in achievement of our EU waste management obligations,” according to EPA programme manager Jonathan Derham.

Increases in the landfill levy since 2008 have also impacted on the amount going to landfill — the levy currently stands at €75 per tonne. In addition to price hikes, the number of landfills accepting municipal waste for disposal is continuing to decrease — 54% of total municipal waste disposed of in 2012 was accepted at just three landfills. The EPA warns there is only two years landfill capacity left based on the current fill rate [of landfills that are operational] and that “alternative treatment options must be developed”.

It also laments opportunities lost by virtue of Ireland having no glass manufacturing facility, paper mill, or metal smelter, “therefore these waste streams are mainly exported for recycling which represents a lost opportunity.”

In fact, 34% of municipal waste was exported for recovery in 2012, including waste exported for energy recovery and recycling.

There was an increase of 36% in the export of baled municipal waste and refuse-derived fuel for energy recovery between 2011 and 2012.

The EPA says incineration plants on mainland Europe “are under-supplied and, thus, there is a market for such export” but that it means waste for energy recovery “is a lost resource opportunity” here. It calls for incentives to keep waste for recovery, both energy and recycling, within the State.

When it comes to recycling, we have upped our game — our recycling rate is now 40%, and is close to the EU28 average of 42%.

Dr Derham insists that the data “shows that Irish society is producing less waste per capita and is deriving more value from the waste it does generate through recycling and use as a fuel.”