The failure to reduce Irish waste mountains accumulating in landfills and a lack of success in promoting change to recycling has forced the Government to introduce a radical waste management policy. It will mean new charges for people generating waste, including private households. Local authorities will have to pursue alternatives to landfill immediately.
A policy paper issued yesterday by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, targets local authorities, giving them a pivotal role in pursuing alternatives such as incineration. It finds that, for the most part, they have failed to pursue new options for disposing of 11 million tonnes of municipal waste coming annually from households, commerce/industry and street cleaning.
Mr Dempsey said the policy was based on an internationally accepted hierarchy favouring waste prevention, minimisation or reuse/recycling before safe disposal of waste which could not be prevented or recovered.
The strategy sets ambitious targets, although it is set over a 15year period. It is aimed at reducing landfill, increasing recycling and ensuring more waste recovery facilities, including composting and other "biological treatment technologies" to handle at least 300,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste a year.
It targets the construction industry for the reduction and reuse of construction and demolition material, which can account for more than 40 per cent of landfill. Mr Dempsey endorsed the use of incineration, but only in the context of using a variety of waste disposal and recycling options.
The rationalisation of municipal landfills is to continue, leading to "an integrated network of some 20 state-of-the-art facilities" incorporating energy recovery and high standards of environmental protection. It aims for an 80 per cent reduction of methane gas emissions, which are dangerous but can be used to generate significant quantities of power and heat.
"These targets will not be easy to achieve," he said, "but anything less would be indicative of a half-hearted approach to sustainable waste management."
The days of landfill - currently catering for almost 92 per cent of municipal waste - are numbered, because of national and EU policy. "We must move relatively rapidly away from one-dimensional and unsophisticated waste practices, which owe much to an `out of sight, out of mind' mentality, towards a modern, environmentally sustainable system of waste management," he said.
The Minister said this would require significant financial aid for an under-resourced area. On charges, he said waste collection/ disposal by local authorities did not reflect the full economic costs of these services. "Many households face relatively low waste charges or no charges at all. This situation is not supportable."
Environmental NGOs cautiously welcomed the paper but reaffirmed their opposition to the development of "superdumps" across Ireland "in the absence of a coherent national waste-reduction strategy". Earthwatch, Voice, Global Action Plan and Waste Action Group said it was not the first time national recycling targets had been set.
The Department's plan from 1994 had "never been implemented at local level due to a lack of a coherent national strategy prioritising waste reduction and recycling, with appropriate fiscal and regulatory instruments", they claimed.
"As long as it's legal and cheap to dump waste that could be recycled, this will continue for the vast bulk of Irish waste," warned Ms Iva Pocock of Voice.
The policy is high on aspiration but lacks commitment in terms of costing environmentally acceptable alternatives to landfill, according to the Green MEP, Ms Nuala Ahern.
