Ireland generated more than 1.1 million tonnes of packaging waste in 2019, an increase of 11 per cent on 2018. It is the third year in a row that 1 million tonnes has been exceed, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
“We need to rethink how we make, transport and use products, cutting down on unnecessary packaging and maximising reuse and recycling,” the agency said in a report issued on Friday.
Many readily recyclable plastic items, such as drinks bottles, are still being put in the general waste bin and ending up being incinerated instead of recycled.
Less than one third of plastic packaging was recycled in 2019, with almost all remaining plastic being sent for incineration, the EPA confirmed.
There have been improvements in those figures since, recycling company Repak underlined.
This week the Government announced all plastics can be put in the recycling bin in an effort to scale up recycling levels. the move follows waste operators improvements in waste segregation by operators as well as investment in new plastics recycling infrastructure.
The reintroduction of soft plastics to Ireland’s recycling list and the forthcoming deposit return scheme for plastic drinks bottles and aluminium cans “are positive steps ”, the EPA acknowledged.
Most of the packaging received consisted of plastic and paper/cardboard, with smaller amounts of glass, wood and metal. Almost all plastic and paper/cardboard, as well as most metal packaging waste, was sent abroad for recycling.
While Ireland continued to meet all current EU targets and achieved high recycling rates in some packaging material streams, such as glass, paper/cardboard and wood, “we are seeing negative trends continue in other areas” – notably low recycling of plastics and high levels of incineration.
“The data indicate the increase in plastic packaging recycled is offset by an even greater increase in the amounts of packaging waste being generated and incinerated and, as a result, Ireland’s recycling rates have shown a generally declining trend since 2013,” it added.
Sharon Finegan, director of the EPA's Office of Environmental Sustainability, said Ireland needed to implement measures "at policy, industry and individual level to halt the rise in packaging waste".
She added: “Businesses need to place less packaging on the market. We need to rethink how we make, transport and use products and move to a system where unnecessary packaging is avoided and any remaining packaging is designed either for re-use or recycling.”
Commitments to support this shift needed to be implemented without delay, she added.
"In 2019, over 13,000 tonnes of aluminium packaging and nearly 39,000 tonnes of recyclable plastic were sent for incineration. Improving how we separate waste at home, in businesses and on-the-go can have a big impact on Ireland's recycling rate," said EPA senior scientist Dr Tara Higgins.
Repak chief executive Séamus Clancy noted new standards under the EU circular economy package (CEP) came into effect from 2020, and more demanding plastic recycling targets adopted up to 2030.
“Achieving a circular economy requires all stakeholders, ourselves included, to increase our efforts across the board.”
The increase in packaging waste generation, which itself is a function of underlying economic activity, is the major factor in determining recycling percentages, Mr Clancy said.
Changes in CEP guidelines on how recycling is measured in member states had created a new landscape. “Ireland is now applying these guidelines... We join Estonia and Luxembourg as the only EU member states to have applied the new reporting requirements.”
Ireland wants gold standards for outcomes in terms of waste reduction and recycling, as identified in the waste action plan. “We must also have gold standards in how we measure and collate data,” he said.
In recent years we have seen an increase in plastics being sent for energy recovery and as a fossil fuel replacement in the cement industry. “A key point here is that 97 per cent of all plastic is either recycled or recovered and we have clear visibility on its end destination,” Mr Clancy said.
There are infrastructure and capacity deficits for the recycling of plastic packaging in Ireland and in Europe as a whole but there were now being addressed, he added. "For too long other countries have been relied upon to manage this valuable resource. The CEP addresses this matter."
