REPUBLIC OF IRELAND – The Republic of Ireland (ROI) has witnessed a 4% decline in the country’s overall recycling rate for packaging waste to 58% in 2021, compared with 62% in 2020, reveals Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data.
During this reference year, the ROI generated approximately 1.2 million tonnes of packaging waste, an increase of roughly 120,000 tonnes, or 11%, from 2020.
The packaging waste generated in the ROI is increasing every year according to the ROI, starting from 2016 when this waste generation breached the one million tonne mark.
On the contrary, packaging waste recycling rates have increased ‘three times slower’ when compared to packaging waste generation, at 8% in the 2016 base year.
This means that packaging waste generation is increasing faster than the recycling rates for said packaging waste.
The 4% decline in recycling rates during 2021 has further put a risk to the country’s target of achieving a 65% recycling rate for packaging waste by 2025.
However, the agency added that the ROI is meeting existing EU recycling targets, with high recycling rates for other packaging waste streams, including glass, paper/cardboard, and ferrous metals.
To reverse this rising trend, both householders and businesses are being urged to adopt better segregation practices at source and ensure the collection of higher quantities of recyclable packaging materials.
Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability Micheal Lehane said: “With Ireland’s packaging waste exceeding 1.2 million tonnes per year, we need to intensify efforts to avoid unnecessary packaging use in the first instance.
“Packaging waste can be avoided and reduced by replacing single-use with reusable packaging, current examples include pallets, boxes and trays, and through better product design such as lightweighting packaging.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has reported that the recycling rate in all Northern Ireland councils has gone down from 52.3% in 2021 to 51.5% in 2022.
Published every quarter, the latest recycling, landfill and energy recovery figures also revealed from July to September 2022 all 11 councils reported decreases in total waste collections.
Household waste makes up around 86% of all locally authority-collected waste and ensuring that recyclable material gets to the correct bin is essential in increasing the rate of recycling, reducing the level of material landfilled and making NI greener.
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