The decline in the amount of waste we generate reported in the most recent figures from the Environmental Protection Agency hides a lack of progress on waste recycling that makes it almost inevitable that we will miss European targets next year.
According to the EPA, Ireland generated 15.7 million tonnes of waste in 2022, the equivalent of 8kg per person per day. The overall figure was down 1.9 million tonnes on the previous year, but the difference is mostly attributed to a decline in construction and demolition waste which is likely to have been driven by cyclical factors.
The levels of municipal and packaging waste we produced remained almost unchanged. While this could be interpreted as progress of sorts, given the growth in the economy and population, the recycling rates for both types of waste fall well short of the targets set under the EU Green Deal.
It mandates that 55 per cent of municipal waste and 65 per cent of packaging waste should be recycled by 2025. According to the EPA, we currently recycle 41 per cent of municipal waste and 60 per cent of packaging waste.
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We are not alone in our inability to hit the ambitious targets that Europe has set for itself. According to the European Environment Agency 18 out of the 27 member states are likely to breach one or both of the targets.
That is no excuse. Ireland can and should do better. The EPA points out that almost two thirds of the waste that households put in their black bins could actually be put into green bins. Fundamentally, however, our under-performance mirrors problems in other areas that rely on continued infrastructural investment to meet the needs of a growing population, notably in housing, power and water.
The Government is now ramping up State investment in these areas, but the issue is exacerbated in the case of waste management because it is almost entirely privately owned and operated. This may have been politically expedient in the past, but is increasingly problematic. Progress on recycling is stalling and action is needed.