Ireland has poor record in recycling waste materials for 'circular economy'
According to an analysis from the European Environment Agency, only aluminium, paper, and glass have established good enough markets to be re-used. Picture: Koen van Weel/AFP via Getty Images
The EU is struggling to get to grips with how to re-use wood, plastic, and clothes in the so-called "circular economy", which reduces the strain on the extraction of vital natural resources.
According to an analysis from the European Environment Agency (EEA), only aluminium, paper, and glass have established good enough markets to be re-used.
The circular economy refers to maintaining products, materials, and resources for as long as possible by returning them into the product cycle at the end of their use, while minimising the generation of waste.
That means extracting still working components from electronic appliances that may have reached the end of their lives and using them elsewhere instead of discarding them for good. The same applies to textiles, wood, and plastic.
Ireland has a poor record when it comes to the circular economy, data show.
According to the European Commission's data analysis wing Eurostat, almost 12% of material resources used in the EU came from recycled waste materials.
However, in Ireland, the figure was one of the worst in the EU at just 2%, similar to Finland, and only beating Romania at 1%.
The EEA's latest report said of the eight most common secondary material markets, only three of those — aluminium, paper, and glass — are functioning well.
"These markets provide credible and continuous information to market stakeholders, they are international and open, and the recycled materials have a significant market share, compared with primary materials, the EEA report notes," the EEA said.
On the other hand, second-hand markets for wood, plastics, biowaste, construction and demolition waste, and textiles are not performing well.
The main problems in these markets are their small size compared with primary materials, weak demand, and lack of common specifications, which reduces the quality of materials for industrial use, the EEA said.
The agency said incentives should be given to design products that are easier to recycle, as well as strengthening recycling targets.
There should be increased recycled content in new products and new technical standards for recycled materials, it added. It also advocated using taxes to level price competition with primary raw materials.
In December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said rising levels of waste in Ireland make it difficult to increase recycling, adding the country is in danger of missing EU municipal waste and plastic packaging recycling targets in 2025.
Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability Sharon Finegan said trends show Ireland is going in the wrong direction.
"Our rising levels of waste are unsustainable and immediate steps must be taken to address these trends," she said.
