Ireland among the worst in EU for recycling plastic

Around 70% of the plastic in Ireland is burned rather than recycled.

Ireland remains near the bottom of the EU table when it comes to recycling plastic in the bloc, yet is at the top for generating overall packaging waste, the latest available data show.

According to Eurostat, the data analysis wing of the European Commission, each person living in the EU generated 34.4kg of plastic packaging waste, out of which 14.1kg was recycled before the pandemic began.

An estimated 41% of plastic packaging waste was recycled in the EU. However, when broken down country-by-country, Ireland fared poorly in recycling, only behind Malta and France.

Ireland only recycled 28% of its plastic packaging waste. 

Nine EU Member States recycled more than half of the plastic packaging waste generated. 

Lithuania was highest at 70%, followed by Czechia at 61%, and Bulgaria at 59%. The Netherlands, Sweden, Slovakia, Spain, Cyprus, and Slovenia all managed to recycle at least half of their plastic waste.

In contrast, just 11% was recycled in Malta, followed by 27% in France, and then Ireland.

Eurostat said that between 2009 and 2019, the volume of plastic packaging waste generated per inhabitant increased by 24%, or equivalent to almost 7kgs. 

The recycling volume of plastic packaging waste increased sharply over the same period, by 50%. 

"Despite this improvement, the amount of plastic packaging that wasn’t recycled increased by 2kg per inhabitant since 2009 due to the greater increase in the absolute value of plastic packaging waste generated," it said.

Packaging waste generated overall was estimated at more than 177kg per person in the EU, with Ireland at the top end of the table.

It ranged from 74kg per inhabitant in Croatia and 228kg per person in Ireland, Eurostat said.

The type of packaging generated varied in the past decade.

From 2009 to 2019, paper and cardboard was the main packaging waste material in the EU, with more than 32 million tonnes in 2019, followed by more than 15 million tonnes each for plastic and glass waste.

There was a more than 20% rise overall in the amount of packaging waste generated in the EU over the 10 years.

Compared with the total volume of generated packaging waste per person in 2009, which was just under 150kgs, the total volume in 2019 increased by 27.5kg per person, reaching a peak at more than 177kg per inhabitant, Eurostat said.

According to the Zero Waste Europe non-governmental-organisation, global production and consumption of plastics have increased more than 20 times over in the past 50 years, going from 15 million tonnes in 1964 to 311 million tonnes in 2014 – likely doubling again over the next 20 years on the current estimates.

About 70% of Ireland's plastic is burned, according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates.