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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Figure 9.11  Collection of household waste in Ireland, 2018 (Source: EPA) Kerbside bin collection – 1,069,068 tonnes Civic amenity site – 173,065 tonnes Skip collections – 139,719 tonnes Bring bank – 83,333 tonnes Other – 59,208 tonnes Mixed residual (black bin), 44% Mixed dry recyclables (green bin), 16% Organics (brown bin), 9% Segregated glass, 1% 4% 6% 70% 11% 9% Since September 2017, all household waste collection contracts must be weight based. 39 A price monitoring group is tracking pricing in the market quarterly and has found that costs have remained broadly stable (Government of Ireland, 2019). The objective of weight-based contracts was to prevent waste by raising householders’ awareness of the waste they generate and to improve segregation of waste. National waste statistics show, however, that household waste increased between 2016 and 2018 (305 kg per person in 2016, 312 kg per person in 2017, 315 kg per person in 2018). There is also room for improvement in the segregation of household waste, as shown in characterisation studies. 39 The planned introduction of pay-by-weight charges for household kerbside collections in 2016 was met with public opposition and the policy focus shifted to the phasing out of flat-rate fees. Kerbside collection is the primary route for managing household waste, with 70 per cent collected at the kerbside in 2018 and smaller quantities collected at civic amenity sites, bring banks and in skips (Figure 9.11). Almost half of household kerbside waste was placed in the residual bin (44%), 16 per cent in the recycling bin and 9 per cent in the organic waste bin. From waste characterisation studies the EPA estimates that the amount of residual waste could be reduced by half with proper segregation of recyclable and organic waste and that almost one-third of the waste placed in the recycling bin belongs in the residual or organic bin. 248