Most cities in the Republic are facing a "severe threat" due to a lack of space for waste, and in many cases space will run out before a solution to the problem is found.
That is the view of one of the Republic's leading waste management advisers Mr P.J. Rudden, of the consultancy firm M C O'Sullivan, who says there must be an immediate ban on construction waste going to landfill.
"The wholesale disposal of builders' rubble into authorised and unauthorised holes in the ground has to stop," Mr Rudden told a Society of Chartered Surveyors Conference in Cork yesterday.
"Producers of construction and demolition waste, the construction industry, should plan for minimising and reducing this waste. When demolishing buildings, they should plan for maximum recycling of the materials being demolished," he said.
Construction and demolition waste currently accounts for 32 per cent of landfill waste.
