Ireland generates almost 8kg of waste per person per day, a new report has found.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published the Circular Economy and Waste Statistics Highlights Report 2022 which identified that Ireland generated 15.7-million tonnes of waste in 2022.

While the report shows a decrease on 2021 figures, it still shows a growth of over 20% in the last decade.

On Newstalk Breakfast, the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme Manager Warren Phelan said Ireland has “too high a tolerance” for generating waste.

"Needs to change"

“Over the last 10 years waste generation has grown by over 20%,” he said.

“This really needs to change.”

Mr Phelan said that while there was a slight waste reduction in 2022, “the trend over the longer period” has shown that “waste generation is undermining all of our efforts to try and recycle more”.

“Our waste generation is outpacing and it's growing faster than all of the efforts we are making to try and recycle,” he said.

The Deposit Return Scheme, which was introduced at the beginning of this year, shows positive “early data”, Mr Phelan said.

“Those types of schemes which are well designed, well thought out, they're accessible, they have an incentive there for people - we see that the behaviours of people respond in kind, and the early numbers look very promising,” he said.

Construction waste

Mr Phelan said that construction waste is a “particular problem” explaining that it accounts for “50% of all of the total waste that we generate in Ireland”.

“We really need to see a very big mind shift there in terms of that particular type of waste,” he said.

“What we'd like to see is really a designing of waste approach right from beginning of projects, whether they're small scale housing or office type buildings, to your major infrastructure.

“Right up at the design stage the project to be thinking about, how can we minimize waste throughout the project?

What we're seeing is that too often we're thinking about this issue when it's far too late within the project or at the site, and that really needs to change.”

Overall results

Overall, the report showed that Ireland’s recycling rate has stagnated over the last 10 years and mandatory targets for municipal and plastic packaging are at a high risk of not being met.

Currently Ireland’s municipal waste recycling rate is unchanged at 41%, with a requirement to be at 55% by 2025.

In addition, whilst recycling of packaging waste is at 60%, this must reach 65% by 2025.

Recycling rates in plastic packaging were up slightly, with 32% of plastic packaging generated in Ireland in 2022 recycled – up from 28% in 2021 – but the recycling target for plastic packaging is 50% by 2025.

30,680 tonnes of single-use plastic bottles were placed on the market in 2022.

A collection rate of 49% was achieved prior to the introduction of the new Deposit Return Scheme.

Brown bin

66% of Irish households had access to a brown bin for food and organic waste in 2022 - showing a decrease of 3% from 2021.

Regulatory changes in 2023 mean that waste collectors are now obliged to provide all households with a brown bin.

The EPA report also highlighted Ireland’s vulnerability in collecting and treating waste - with an over-reliance on other countries to treat our recycling materials and general municipal waste shown.

Illegal dumping, of Household Waste, Round stone Blanket Bog, Roundstone, Connemara, County Galway, West Coast of Ireland. Europe, EU. Image: Alamy