We’re not ready for new waste avalanche

Just as we seem less engaged than we were some years ago with changes an evolving climate will force on our world we seem to have taken our eye off the ball on how we will manage the growing quantities of waste our consumer society produces.

Unfortunately, we must also acknowledge that we have not been as focussed as we need to be on another vital issue — water. Though plans are advanced on some aspects of securing our water supply huge gaps remain and something around half of the water processed is still lost through leaks. The issue is so very critical that in some areas around Dublin development has been deferred until water supplies can be guaranteed.

Ominously, a new warning from the Environmental Protection Agency concentrates on waste disposal and how poorly we are prepared for an anticipated surge in the levels of waste we generate. For the first time in seven years homes, shops, and offices will produce more waste next year than they did in the previous year. Within a decade waste production will surpass the boom years’ record rates. This increase comes just as we are running out of old-fashioned landfill sites and still feel uneasy, even if that sentiment may be irrational, with the idea of waste incinerators and the energy they can generate. That position exacerbates a situation where investment in alternatives is not readily available and where regional waste management plans have not been revised in over a decade. Add to that unfortunate mix the fact that many private waste operators are opposed to greater controls being imposed on their industry and you have the potential for a real bottleneck in waste disposal. In other words we have not done our homework. Neither have we succeeded in changing cultural attitudes so we might take more personal responsibility for the quantities of waste each of us produces.