Recycling the issue of festive waste

EAT, drink and be merry, for God only knows what’s coming down the tracks in 2009.

That could well be the attitude of many people this Christmas.

One thing is sure — whatever about the recession, people are still going to give it a right auld lash when it comes to food and booze during the festive season.

It is mind-boggling the mammoth amount of consumption, and the giving of thickly-wrapped presents, that occurs at Christmas time.

All this packaging is, of course, duly discarded and creates a waste mountain. Irish homes will generate about 80,000 tonnes of used packaging over the Christmas period, according to Repak, the body for recycling used packaging.

It is estimated 159 million drink containers will be discarded over the festive season.

Repak hopes to collect and recycle 45% of this extra used packaging — averaging 24kg per household, or 35,000 tonnes in total. Last year Repak supported the recycling of nearly 32,000 tonnes of used packaging.

It is reckoned there will be 171m used packaging containers for disposal this festive season.

Green Christmas 2008, launched by Repak today, runs until January 5 and has Clean Green as its main theme. Householders are urged to keep their recyclables clean and well segregated as these are much easier to recycle and more valuable on international recycling markets.

People are also asked to refrain from illegal dumping at bring banks or civic amenity sites which may be full due to extra demand. There may be an alternative recycling location nearby.

With packaging waste rising by up to 30% at Christmas, so does food waste. However, there is a greater opportunity for householders to recycle this waste considering more and more people now have access to a brown bin.

According to British research, 19% of all household waste is food waste. Also, the same research revealed British consumers were throwing away a third of all food they buy and there’s no reason to believe we’re any different.

Working on the basis of 19% food waste, it would mean Irish households are throwing away 337,000 tonnes of food annually. This would represent nearly 60% of all organic household waste (food and garden waste). Half of this is food that could have been eaten. Studies show around 20% of our climate change emissions are related to the production, processing, transportation and storage of food waste.

Food waste is a more serious issue than packaging waste, as packaging recycling rates are higher and food waste rots in landfill. In so doing, food produces a methane greenhouse gas which is 23 times more potent than CO2. Every tonne of food waste is responsible for 4.5 tonnes of CO2.

However, eco-friendly packaging is top of the list for three-quarters of Irish consumers this Christmas, according to a new report.

The survey, carried out by Nestlé Ireland, reveals 75% of Irish people believe it is important to “think green” when purchasing new products.

This year, Nestlé Ireland is paving the way for a greener Christmas with the introduction of the first reduced packaging, recyclable Christmas selection box range to the Irish market.

71% of those surveyed said Christmas selection boxes have too much packaging, while 84% said the excess packaging misleads them to think there is more chocolate product inside.

All new Nestlé selection boxes will have at a minimum a quarter less packaging and will be produced from at least 75% recyclable material. But, there is no compromise on the chocolate contents.

It’s impossible to talk about waste at Christmas without referring to batteries. Around 80m batteries are sold in Ireland every year and it is estimated a third of all sales are over the Christmas period.

Environment Minister John Gormley, left, has launched the European Recycling Platform’s Christmas appeal campaign aimed at encouraging people to recycle their used batteries.

People are asked to gather their old, used batteries and bring them to be recycled free of charge at any retail outlet selling similar types of batteries.