Ireland is falling short on its commitments to recycle plastic packaging waste, and 2020 plastic packaging recycling rates were “a long way off” the 2025 EU target of 50 per cent, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned.
According to the EPA’s latest figures on packaging waste issued on Monday, recycling rates remain low for plastic at 29 per cent, with share of plastic packaging treated by incineration at 71 per cent.
Demanding EU targets on plastics are seeking to reduce associated carbon emissions and marine pollution, particularly from single-use items.
“Diversion to energy recovery [incineration] is happening due to poor segregation at businesses and homes, and challenges finding financially viable markets for lightweight and low-quality plastics,” the EPA says.
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“If the current practices continue, Ireland will struggle to meet plastic recycling targets and the climate emissions associated from managing plastic waste will continue to grow... Ireland will face significant challenges in meeting the 2025 and 2030 recycling targets for plastic of 50 per cent and 55 per cent,” the EPA added.
In contrast, the Republic is meeting current EU recycling targets and achieving high recycling rates for some streams such as glass, paper/cardboard and metals. The majority of Ireland’s recycling is done abroad, however, with just 18 per cent of packaging waste (204,000 tonnes) recycled in Ireland in 2020 — mainly glass and wood.
Sharon Finegan, director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, said: “While Ireland is meeting current [overall] recycling targets, future targets will be more challenging, especially for plastic. Achieving the step change improvement needed in plastic recycling requires fiscal and regulatory measures to be introduced without delay.”
This could, she added, include enhanced recycling subsidies, a levy on incineration, introducing performance targets on waste operators, and incentivised pricing to encourage businesses and households to properly segregate their waste for recycling.
Along with improving recycling rates, measures are needed to prevent packaging waste, especially as demands of operating in a circular economy become more onerous, the EPA said.
“Ireland’s generation of 1.1 million tonnes of packaging waste per year represents a poor use of materials and energy and is a growing source of emissions. Packaging waste can be avoided and reduced through better product design and by substituting single use for reusable packaging,” it said.
Warren Phelan, programme manager of the EPA’s circular economy programme, noted: “We need to intensify efforts to reduce packaging waste. Examples of reusable packaging already in use in Ireland include wooden pallets, kegs, and various plastic bulk containers, trays, boxes and buckets.
“While just 1 per cent of the packaging placed on the Irish market in 2020 was reusable (approximately 8,000 tonnes), this avoided about 72,000 tonnes of single-use packaging.”
Key findings includes:
- Ireland generated 1,118,596 tonnes of packaging waste in 2020, a decrease of 112,209 tonnes (1 per cent) on 2019, due to a 4 per cent decrease in plastic and a 5 per cent decrease in paper/cardboard.
- Approximately 225kg of waste packaging was generated per person in 2020, down from 229kg per person in 2019. This included 91kg of paper and cardboard, 62kg of plastic, 37kg of glass, 20kg of wood and 14kg of metal packaging.
- In 2020, 62 per cent of waste packaging was recycled, exceeding the current EU target (55 per cent). This is the same recycling rate as 2019 but future recycling targets applying from 2025 (65 per cent) and 2030 (70 per cent) will be challenging for Ireland to meet.
- Share of plastic packaging waste incinerated for energy recovery has grown year on year from 44 per cent in 2017 to 71 per cent in 2020, contributing an estimated 331,926 tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere in 2020.
- Plastics are made from fossil fuels; therefore, carbon is built into them and is released as carbon dioxide when incinerated at end of life. On average, as much as 2.7kg of carbon dioxide is emitted for every kilogram of plastic incinerated.
The report is available www.epa.ie
