Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

414 Chapter 15: Circular Economy and Waste Figure 15.10 Quantity of construction and demolition waste managed in Ireland, compared with the Central Statistics Office construction index, 2014–2020 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 0 2 4 6 8 10 ˜ Construction & demolition waste ˜ Construction index Construction index (2015 = 100) Construction & demolition waste (million tonnes) Sources: Compiled from data from the EPA, NWCPO and CSO 16 mywaste.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/National-Waste-Management-Plan-for-a-Circular-Economy-Volume-I-Current-Situation- and-Challenges.pdf (accessed 23 September 2024). Infrastructure capacity to treat waste Ireland remains overly reliant on export markets for the treatment of waste streams including residual municipal waste, hazardous waste, packaging waste and, more recently, biowastes. There is limited resilience in the system to deal with market shocks or unforeseen events that give rise to additional quantities of waste. Improving Ireland’s self-sufficiency in treating our waste and expanding domestic residual and recycling capacity is of utmost importance in terms of building resilience and a national circular economy. The capacity to manage municipal and construction and demolition wastes continues to be under pressure, particularly for hazardous soil and stone wastes. The most significant change in recent years has been the shift away from disposing of residual (i.e. black bin) waste in landfills to instead using it in energy recovery. Almost 3.2 million tonnes of municipal waste was generated in Ireland in 2021, up 4% from 2019. Of the municipal waste managed in Ireland in 2021, 41% was recycled, 43% was treated with energy recovery (waste-to-energy installations and cement kilns, down from 46% in 2019) and 16% was sent to landfills 16 (up slightly from 15% in 2019) (Figure 15.10). Ireland’s dependence on waste exports for the management of various waste streams also continues. Approximately 38% (1.2 million tonnes) of all municipal waste generated in 2021 was exported for treatment mainly in other EU Member States. Of the waste exported, most went for recycling (58%) or energy recovery (32%), while 8% went for composting or anaerobic digestion. Hazardous waste. Similarly, the dependence on exports for the management of hazardous waste generated in Ireland persists. Industry is the largest generator of hazardous waste in Ireland (solvents, sludges, oils, chemicals) but other sectors also produce hazardous wastes, including paints, batteries, pesticides, asbestos and contaminated soil. Ireland generated 389,908 tonnes of hazardous waste in 2022, a decrease of 16% (over 77,000 tonnes) from 2021. This decrease was driven by reduced dredging activities at Dublin Port, with dredged spoil quantities falling by almost 65,000 tonnes. In 2022, 57% of hazardous waste was treated abroad and 43% (169,000 tonnes) was treated in Ireland. There are limited hazardous waste treatment operations in Ireland (these are mainly used for oil recovery, healthcare waste treatment and solvent reclamation), meaning that Ireland is heavily dependent on export for the treatment of many hazardous waste streams. The reliance on exports also highlights a possible missed opportunity for the treatment of more hazardous wastes in Ireland from an economic and circular economy perspective.