Recycling in Ireland
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Rates of household recycling in Ireland have increased dramatically since the late 1990's, but are still lagging behind European averages. The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the agency with overall responsibility for recycling, and acts as the watchdog for the waste management industry in Ireland. Each local authority in Ireland has considerable control over recycling, so recycling practices vary considerably across the country. Ireland does not currently have any incineration facilities (though some are planned), so any waste that is not recycled is disposed of in landfill sites.
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[edit] EPA Statistics
According to the latest EPA report:
- 23% of household waste and 35% of municipal waste is recycled.
- The lack of recycling infrastructure remains a problem-83% of waste needs to be sent abroad to be recycled. For example, there is a large plastic recycling facility in Meath, but there is no facility to sort and clean plastic, so all Irish plastic is sent abroad.
- 48% of household waste is now collected by private operators.
The EPA hopes to have 50% of waste recycled by 2013.
[edit] Plastic Bag Levy
One noticeable success in Ireland's environmental track record was the introduction of a plastic bag levy in 2003, the first country in the world to do so. All consumers were required to pay 15c for a plastic bag (since increased to 21c); this led to an immediate decrease of over 90% in the amount of plastic bags in circulation. The levy encouraged retailers to switch to paper bags, and encouraged consumers to bring their own bags when shopping. The media coverage also helped raise awareness about the damage plastic bags do to the environment. There has been some evidence of complacency, however, suggesting that the number of plastic bags has begun to rise again.
[edit] WEEE
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive was introduced into Irish law in August 2005. Under this law, retailers of electrical goods are required to provide free in-store take back for old electrical goods for customers buying new electrical equipment. The cost of this is passed onto consumers.
[edit] Packaging
Repak is Ireland's packaging recovery organisation.
[edit] Practices around the Country
In Dublin, a company called Oxigen supply green bins for recycling to all households, and local councils supply black bins for all other waste. The green bins are collected every 4 weeks-householders can dispose of paper, cardboard, cans and tins in this bin, and it is illegal to dispose of such waste in a black bin. Householders have to pay every time their black bin is collected; this is to discourage people from using the black bin. Oxigen also run a pilot brown bin scheme for garden and food waste, which is collected every week. This is only in operation in some parts of Dublin, mainly in north county Dublin. It is due to be rolled out across Dublin by the end of 2007/early 2008, once suitable facilities for dealing with the waste are in place. A similar brown bin scheme has been in place in Galway for some time.
Variations of this system are in place across the country. Some local authorities, such as Limerick County Council, now outsource all waste collection to private authorities. Householders can choose what size bin they want, and pay accordingly. However, they are not charged every time the bin is collected. Other councils operate a weigh-and-pay system, where households are charged according to the weight of the waste collected. In Galway city, over 50% of waste is now recycled, the highest proportion in the country.
There has been a sharp increase in the number of bottle banks and recycling facilities across the country over the last 10 years, but facilities continue to struggle with demand.
[edit] External links
- Latest report from EPA on recycling
- Government information on recycling and waste management in Ireland
- Oxigen's home page
- Repak's home page
