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

Ireland’s Environment – An Integrated Assessment 2020 Ireland’s Performance on Waste and the Circular Economy The Commission’s 2019 EIR noted Ireland’s lack of a national strategy for the circular economy, which it identified as a priority action for Ireland. European waste policy has long been centred on the waste hierarchy. 3 The EU Circular Economy Action Plan, adopted in 2015, emphasises the need to move towards a life-cycle-driven ‘circular’ economy, reusing resources as much as possible and bringing residual waste close to zero. It complements and updates pre-existing European waste management legislation setting down binding targets for waste recycling. The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) published A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy: Ireland’s National Waste Policy 2020-2025 in September 2020, which aims to ensure that Ireland not only meets legal targets but also takes full advantage of the opportunities of the new economy. Over 2.9 million tonnes of municipal waste was generated in Ireland in 2018, equating to 600 kg per person, up 4 per cent from 577 kg per person in 2017. This is well above the EU average of 492 kg per person (Figure 15.7) (EPA, 2020g). The large variation in municipal waste generation across EU Member States reflects differences in consumption patterns and economic wealth, as well as ongoing differences in how countries manage and report municipal waste, despite efforts by Eurostat to improve harmonisation in waste reporting. Figure 15.7  Municipal waste generated in EU Member States in 2018 (Source: EPA, 2020g) Denmark Malta Germany Luxembourg Ireland Austria Finland France Netherlands Portugal Italy Slovenia Spain Lithuania UK Sweden Croatia Slovakia Belgium Bulgaria Latvia Estonia Hungary Czechia Poland Romania 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 kg per person EU-27 3 Reducing waste generation, increasing material reuse and recycling, diverting waste from landfill and limiting energy recovery to non- recyclable materials. As outlined in Chapter 9, the steady progress Ireland has made in meeting EU recycling targets has slowed in recent years. Ireland’s overall recycling rate for municipal waste of 38 per cent in 2018 (EPA, 2020g) was well below the European average of 47 per cent and significantly behind the leading EU country, Germany, where 67 per cent of municipal waste was recycled in 2018. 4 While Ireland should be very close to meeting its recycling target for 2020, achieving compliance with future more stringent targets will present a significant challenge. There was a significant reduction in the landfill rate between 2012 and 2018, from 41 per cent to 15 per cent, driven by an increase in the landfill levy and increased incineration capacity nationally. Waste incineration with energy recovery increased substantially in the same period, from 17 per cent to 43 per cent (EPA, 2020g). These trends indicate that waste movements away from landfill in Ireland have gone largely to incineration rather than recycling. The Commission cautioned in its EIR that the increased use of incineration must not prevent Ireland from meeting post-2020 recycling targets. The EIR also recommended that Ireland could achieve further progress by introducing tax incentives for households to encourage waste prevention and recycling (Topic Box 15.6), while noting that Ireland has made an effort to increase public awareness and participation via several awareness and education measures, including on food waste and separate collections. 4 Eurostat indicator ‘Recycling rate of municipal waste’ (online data code: SDG_11_60) available online at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ databrowser/view/sdg_11_60/default/table?lang=en (accessed 19 October 2020). 400