Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

426 Chapter 15: Circular Economy and Waste Circular economy regulatory instruments Ireland’s regulatory instruments are responding to the challenges of moving from an economic model characterised by high volumes of waste towards one that encourages, incentivises and regulates the better use of resources and materials. Commercial incentivised collections and household biowaste collection service. National policy commits Ireland to improving waste segregation and reducing waste. Regulations (S.I. No. 104/2023) introducing incentivised waste collection charging in the commercial sector came into force in 2023, along with a requirement for all commercial premises to be provided with a three- bin system (mixed dry recycling bin, organic waste bin and general waste bin), broadly mirroring the regime in the household sector. New legislation means that every household in the State is being provided with a brown bin for food waste and garden waste by their waste collector from 2024 onwards. This change is to meet a requirement in the EU Waste Framework Directive. By-product and end of waste criteria. National by- product and end of waste regulations can contribute to growing the circular economy in Ireland. A by-product 30 is a residue of a production process (not the intended product) that has a certain and lawful use. A material determined to be a by-product never becomes waste; simply put, waste is prevented. A material reaches end-of-waste 31 status when it is fully recovered and meets specific statutory criteria such as certainty of use and product standards. Products derived from materials with end-of-waste support the growth of national markets for secondary materials. The EPA is responsible for assessing applications it receives on materials seeking by-product and end- of-waste status and can make single-case or national decisions. National criteria provide a framework for economic operators to obtain by-product or end-of- waste status for particular materials. The EPA, in consultation with industry and the European Commission, has also prepared national decisions on: ■ end of waste criteria for recycled aggregate ■ by-product criteria for site-won asphalt (road planings). 32 30 www.epa.ie/our-services/licensing/waste/by-products-regulation-27/ (accessed 24 June 2024). 31 www.epa.ie/our-services/licensing/waste/end-of-waste-art-28/ (accessed 24 June 2024). 32 Site-won asphalt is milled asphalt road layers or slabs that have been stripped from road surfaces. Asphalt is a mixture of bitumen and aggregate (sand/gravel/stone). A third national decision for by-product criteria for greenfield soil and stone is currently in preparation. These national decisions provide pathways for the construction sector to tackle construction waste by preventing its generation, allowing for safe reuse, increasing recycling and supporting greener purchasing of materials. Outside the construction sector, there is significant and untapped potential for the application of end-of-waste and by-product criteria to significantly increase Ireland’s circularity rating. National end-of-waste criteria give the opportunity to increase recycled aggregate use in Ireland. With 30 million tonnes of crushed rock extracted in Ireland annually, widespread use of the new criteria has the potential to reduce primary extraction. In 2022, the EPA made 122 by-product single-case project decisions of which 97 were for soil and stone by-products. That equated to approximately 2.7 million tonnes of soil and stone being prevented from becoming waste. The other significant by-product material notified to the EPA was road planings (e.g. site-won asphalt). Determining materials and resources to be by-products and not wastes offers clear environmental and economic benefits to projects and businesses. In 2022, the EPA made a by-product decision for a notified chemical material, which illustrates the benefits the mechanism offers to businesses and the environment (see Topic Box 15.6).