EPA - Ireland's Environment, An Integrated Assessment - 2020

Chapter 9: Waste 4. Pressures Economy Ireland’s use of resources and generation of waste are high. As well as affecting public health, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on our economy and the implications of this in relation to waste generation and management will become evident in time (see Topic Box 9.3). Domestic material consumption (DMC) 20 measures the amount of materials used by an economy and provides an assessment of its use of resources; if materials are used more efficiently, it reduces stresses on the environment, including waste generation. Ireland’s DMC is significantly above the EU average (24.35 tonnes per person compared with the EU-28 average of 13.14 tonnes per person; Eurostat, 2020). Figure 9.8  Household waste managed and personal consumption of goods and services, 2010-2018 (Sources: EPA, Central Statistics Office) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Household waste managed (tonnes) Personal consumption (€ million) Household waste managed (tonnes) 1,250,000 1,300,000 1,350,000 1,400,000 1,450,000 1,500,000 1,550,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 90,000 100,000 110,000 120,000 Personal consumption of goods and services (€ million) 20 DMC is defined as the annual quantity of raw materials extracted from the domestic territory (biomass, minerals, fossil fuels) plus all physical imports minus all physical exports. Project Ireland 2040 includes a public capital investment of €116 billion, which will result in significant growth in the construction sector (DPER, 2019). Projections from the waste management planning regions indicate that by 2028 up to 7.5 million tonnes of C&D waste will be collected (high-growth scenario) (RWMPOs, 2020). The quantity of household waste managed correlates closely with Central Statistics Office data on personal consumption of goods and services, both of which have shown a predominantly upward trend since 2012 (Figure 9.8) and indicate that household waste generation is closely linked to consumption patterns. 239