The bold declaration that "the days of landfill are over" came from the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, last September. He had published a policy statement called "Waste Management . . . changing our ways". Shoddy waste management, and a 92 per cent dependence on landfill, could be no more.
The Minister is correct, though some landfill will always be necessary. In the short term, off-loading most of the Republic's refuse in "localities of the least resistance", or at established dumps/landfills - some licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency, others not - will continue.
Poorly operated dumps demanded new solutions, if only because of EU regulations and targets for reducing landfill dependence (which the Republic is unlikely to meet in the current climate). Appealing to voters' sense of sustainability by asking them to reduce/recycle waste has not had much success.
Mr Dempsey's declaration, however, is embraced by numerous newly-formed campaign groups to justify their opposition to landfill dumps (aside from their anti-incinerator stance). They are incensed by plans to site "superdumps" or upgrade older ones, in most cases to serve whole counties, and sometimes regions.
The groups have joined forces to become the National Anti-Landfill body, which has said waste management is an election issue. But candidates did not need to be told - the wrong position on a local dump issue would end their chances. Look at how many local authorities have deferred decisions on proposed landfill and incinerator sites of late.
Trepidation is to be found almost in every county as smaller dumps are closed, bigger ones loom and the option of incinerators surfaces in waste management plans for counties and in waste blueprints from regional authorities, which are now required by the Department of the Environment.
The Voice environmental group regularly gets calls from communities asking how they can stop a new landfill planned for their area. Its spokeswoman, Ms Iva Pocock, immediately asks the caller what they are doing to minimise or recycle their waste. "They are not very happy with that. We are prompting people to look at the issue in a much deeper way."
It encourages people to focus on waste reduction and to acknowledge "the siting of a landfill or incinerator is really a result of society's unsustainable consumption and waste production activities". Local authorities are being landed with the consequences. "But in our experience to date, they have dealt with this problem in a most uncreative way."
Communities and local authorities must make the connection between the reality of their local dump and weak EU legislation, she says. The absence of a tax on plastic bags and the demise of the milk bottle, she notes, are consequences of such legislation.
The EU, nonetheless, is forcing the "polluter pays principle" on to agendas. It will probably lead to every Irish "waste producer" paying based on quantity. Refuse bags will be replaced with waste segregation (facilitated by a series of containers) in the home. The extent of financial pain will determine how quickly that conversion occurs.
Meantime, partial solutions involving landfill or incineration will meet huge resistance. Iva Pocock accepts that concerns can be justified based on the legacy of Irish waste management - "there are probably two real landfills in this country, and the rest are dumps" - even if she believes people are not addressing the root cause of the waste crisis.