Race against Christmas waste begins

Donal Hickey on why recycling becomes a much bigger job during the festive season.

WE’RE going to create another waste mountain during the festive season, as the country’s insatiable appetite for presents, parties and any auld excuse at all reaches an annual highpoint.

The so-called Celtic Tiger leaves a trail of rubbish behind at this time of year, including millions of drinks cans and bottles and the equivalent of around 90,000 trees in discarded paper and packaging.

Tonnes of stuff will be disposed off during and after the 12 days of indulgence. There will be four times more waste to get rid of post-Christmas than at any other time of the year: the good news is nearly of it can be recycled.

People continue to buy expensive wrapping paper for the presents they give, but who really cares about the wrapping? Most people just tear it off hurriedly and then the glittering paper is thrown away.

The mind boggles at the amount of waste produced in December and early January each year.

Two years ago, for example, Repak saw the recovery from households of the equivalent of 92,800 trees worth of paper Also recovered were: 26 million plastic bottles, 25 million aluminium drinks cans, 11 million steel food cans and 32 million glass bottles. At least that much is again expected to be recycled in the season that’s upon us.

With wine consumption growing steadily here, bottle banks are sure to be busy post-Christmas.

And what about all those gadgets people buy for Christmas? There are an estimated million mobile phones dormant in Ireland, which can be accepted at most Green Christmas recycling centres.

There’s also the huge sale of electrical goods of every description at Christmas. People purchasing any electrical, or electronic equipment can return a similar item, if broken or no longer working, to the retailer.

This is part of the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive aimed at ensuring electrical waste is recycled responsibly by the producers.

Indeed, electronic waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the EU.

Traditionally, items such as disused freezers, fridges, TV sets and washing machines were either taken to a landfill site, or even worse, they were dumped illegally in bogs and remote rural areas. Now they can be easily and effectively recycled at transfer stations.

This is the first Christmas where pay-by-weight and pay-by-use are in effect nationwide, another incentive to recycle.

It is estimated the additional expense of sending recyclable materials to landfill could cost Irish householders as much as €44 million.

A €250,000 public information campaign by Repak aims to recycle upwards of 30,000 tonnes of the used packaging generated over Christmas, the equivalent of every household recycling almost 20 kilos. In total, households will generate 95,000 tonnes of packaging over the coming weeks.

The green campaign is supported by Race Against Waste for the second year running. It encourages people to recycle used packaging, including plastic bottles, aluminium cans, cardboard, glass and beverage cartons as well as other materials.

Working with local authorities, 90 Green Christmas centres have been set up throughout the country, with extended opening hours.

Individuals could save an extra €34 on their waste bill by recycling.

Some of the 420,000 Christmas trees expected to be sold can also be recycled at specially designated centres around the country.

Repak’s national research study showed women between 35 and 44 are the best recyclers and save the most money per household. Women are over a third more likely than men to regularly recycle.

Single people will also be hit by this new Christmas bill. Repak found a four-person household produces 275% more waste than an individual. The number of single people in Ireland is growing at 34%.

Repak chief executive Andrew Hetherington said we produce a staggering 30% extra used-packaging over the period.

“If you want to save money and help do your bit for the environment, ensure you recycle as much of your used packaging as possible this Christmas. Recycling is becoming easier and easier as the collection infrastructure expands and matures,” he said.

The green campaign is becoming more successful all the time.

It helped grow packaging recycling to nearly 18,000 tonnes in December 2004/January 2005, compared to 14,500 tonnes the previous year. This was an increase of 19% on the same period in the previous year, or 2,000 tonnes over the target tonnage of 15,000 tonnes.

Gradually, more and more Irish people are recycling throughout the year. Many households now have three bins and routinely separate different types of waste.

According to Environment Minister Dick Roche, we’re well on our way to achieving a target of 35% recycling by 2013.