Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

411 Chapter 15: Circular Economy and Waste Waste generation and management Waste generation is a subset of the flow of materials through the economy (Figure 15.6). In 2021, waste generated by Ireland’s linear economy increased 12 to 17.6 million 13 tonnes (3.38 tonnes per person), up from 12.7 million tonnes (2.77 tonnes per person) in 2012 (Figure 15.7). 12 Central Statistics Office (CSO) Waste Statistics Waste Generation 2020. Overall waste generation figure calculated biennially by CSO using EPA waste data in this report and scaled up for other industries/businesses: ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/ index.php?title=Waste_statistics (accessed 24 June 2024). 13 www.epa.ie/our-services/monitoring--assessment/waste/national-waste-statistics/waste-generation/ (accessed 24 June 2024). Increasing consumption and the current economic model of production using natural resources rather than secondary materials are leading to a growing waste generation problem (Figure 15.8). Figure 15.7 Circular economy and waste data highlights, 2021 17.6 million tonnes of waste was generated in Ireland in 2021. This equates to 3.5 tonnes per person per year or 9.6 kg of waste per person per day. Key waste streams include municipal (including household), packaging and construction. 3.17 million tonnes of Municipal Waste was generated in 2021, this is relatively unchanged from 3.2 million tonnes in 2020. 41% of Municipal waste was recycled in 2021, the same level as in 2020. 9 million tonnes of Construction and Demolition waste was generated in 2021. An increase of 10% since 2020. Packaging waste generation increased by 9% to 1.2 million tonnes in 2021. The recycling rate for Packaging waste decreased from 62% in 2020 to 58% in 2021. 1.2 million tonnes or 38% of all Municipal waste was exported for treatment in 2021. This includes 800,000 tonnes of municipal waste exported for recycling and 382,000 tonnes exported for energy recovery through incineration. 69% of all Packaging waste recycled was sent abroad for recycling. A total of 1.84 million tonnes of household waste was generated in Ireland in 2021.This equates to just over one tonne, or 200 black bags worth of waste generated per household per year. A record 72,000 tonnes of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) were collected in 2021. This was an increase of 10% overall with Business to Business (B2B) Collection up 43% . In 2021, the collection rate of End-of-Life Vehicles (ELVs) increased by 22.5% . Ireland has a Reuse rate of 10.6 kg per person per year . An estimated 11.4 million items of secondhand clothing were bought or exchanged in 2021. Source: EPA, 2023b