Policy information
Waste Policy and the Circular Economy
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
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From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy is Ireland’s new roadmap for waste planning and management. Climate action needs to be embedded in all strands of public policy. With this in mind, the Plan seeks to shift the emphasis away from a linear approach to resources and waste disposal and to explore how we can extend the lifetime of resources by creating a circular economy.
The Plan outlines the contribution of the sector to the achievement of a number of other national plans and policies including the Climate Action Plan. It also matches the level of ambition being shown across the European Union through the European Green Deal, which encompasses a range of actions supporting circularity and sustainability.
Household and Commercial Waste is also known as Municipal Waste or Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). This is the waste we produce in our homes and businesses. It consists of a number of waste streams including general waste, mixed dry recyclables and organic waste.
Ireland has made significant progress in managing our MSW in recent years, with the landfill rate for municipal waste dropping from 23% in 2017 to just 14% in 2018. We are now working towards reducing that figure further, to 10% or less, in line with new waste management targets in the EU Landfill Directive.
Read more about how we are managing Household and Commercial Waste
Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste is waste from any building works, demolition and development (including transport infrastructure).
Excavated soil and stone is the largest element of C&D waste at approximately 80% with the remainder including concrete, brick, tiles, glass, metal, plastic and wood. C&D is the largest single waste stream in the EU representing approximately one third of all waste produced annually.
Given the huge cost and loss of value to the construction sector arising from such large volumes of waste, improvements in waste management practices can offer many opportunities in terms of reduced environmental and financial impacts.
Read more about how we are managing Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste
Food waste is a global problem that has environmental, social and economic consequences. Growing, processing and transporting food all uses significant amounts of resources. According to the United Nations, if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest global greenhouse gas emitter.
Food waste can arise for a number of reasons at a number of different points in the food supply chain. Ireland generates approximately 1 million tonnes of food waste per year (not including wasted food from agriculture). Around 40% of this comes from food processing operations, while 60% comes from the household and commercial sector.
The urgency and challenge of addressing food waste is highlighted at international level through Goal 12.3 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: "By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains".
At a national level, food waste is identified as a priority waste stream within the National Waste Prevention Programme managed by the EPA and, in recent years, increased resources have been assigned to the area in recognition of its strategic importance.
The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy sets out a number of commitments in relation to food waste prevention, including working with a range of stakeholders to develop a Food Waste Prevention Roadmap that sets out a series of actions to deliver the reductions necessary to halve our food waste by 2030, meet any other related targets, and promote our transition to a circular economy.
The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy also commits to a number of measures relating to redistribution, infrastructure and supporting sustainable management of food waste. These include, for example, supporting a voluntary target with retailers and the processing industry for a percentage of edible food to be donated, ensuring that every householder and business has access to a reliable, clean and sustainable way of managing food waste, and realising the anaerobic digestion and composting potential of the food waste resource.
Single-use plastic products (SUPs) are used once, or for a short period of time, before being thrown away. The impacts of this plastic waste on the environment and our health can be drastic. Single-use plastic products are more likely to end up in our seas than reusable options. The 10 most commonly found single-use plastic items represent 70% of all marine litter in the EU so it is crucial that we act now to reduce this.
Read more on how we are tackling Single-use Plastics
One of our functions in relation to waste management is to set the policy and legislative framework for the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model in Ireland, across the various waste streams.
Extended Producer Responsibility is an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the postconsumer stage of a product’s life cycle. Under an EPR model, producers take over the responsibility (financial and/or organisation) for collecting or taking back used goods and for sorting and treating for their eventual recycling.
Read more about Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
Ireland’s waste facilities include licensed, engineered landfills. They operate under stringent environmental standards, designed to ensure the protection of human health and the environment.
These standards also set out the requirements for the aftercare and remediation works needed when a landfill reaches the end of its life. The number of high grade facilities should be minimised and used only for waste that cannot be prevented, reused, recycled or recovered in a waste-to-energy plant, reflecting the EU Waste Hierarchy.
The Landfill Remediation Grant Scheme was established in 2006, in order to deal with the specific issue of the remediation of closed, licensed, local authority-operated landfills, and in recognition of the fact that local authorities would not have sufficient resources to fund the full cost of this remediation. The scheme is administered by our Department (as Sanctioning Authority) with the individual projects being managed by relevant the Local Authority (as Sponsoring Agencies). The regional waste management plans provide the roadmap for delivery:
| Eastern-Midlands Region | Waste Management Plan 2015 – 2021 |
| Southern Region | Waste Management Plan 2015-2021 |
| Connacht-Ulster Region | Waste Management Plan 2015 -2021 |
Effective enforcement of waste legislation is vital for the credibility of our systems of waste management. The key objectives for waste enforcement in Ireland are to ensure that an effective system is in place to protect our environment and the health of our citizens.
Read more on Waste Enforcement