Publication
Household and Commercial Waste
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications
Published on
Last updated on
Household and Commercial Waste or Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is produced in our homes and businesses and includes 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 62% in 2008 to just 14% in 2018.
43% of municipal waste was incinerated for energy recovery in 2018, significantly higher than the 7% recorded in 2012. Significantly more residual waste is now used as a fuel (energy recovery) than disposed to landfill. We have also reduced the number of landfills accepting MSW in Ireland, in 2021 there are only three actively accepting such waste, down from 120 in 1992.
We are now working towards reducing our landfill rate for municipal waste further, to 10% or less, in line with new waste management targets in the EU Landfill Directive. The Directive requires Member States to meet this target by 2035. In addition, amendments to the Waste Framework Directive require that recycling rates of 55%, 60% and 65% of municipal waste (by weight) must be achieved by 2025, 2030 and 2035 respectively.
Every household and business has a role to play in the reduction, reuse and segregation of waste and can help us reach these targets.
mywaste was developed by the Regional Waste Management Planning Offices, with support from this Department, as Ireland's official guide to managing your waste. On this website, you will find everything you need to know about how to manage your waste responsibly and efficiently, including advice to help you prevent waste arising in the first place and on reuse and upcycling. It also has information about waste services, bring banks and recycling facilities available locally throughout Ireland.
The Price Monitoring Group was established in 2017 to monitor the cost of household kerb side waste collection. It currently monitors 26 waste collection markets across Ireland. This comprises 19 individual companies with several of those operating in more than one area.
The Group meets monthly to collect and analyse price data across all of the monitored firms. All of the data and accompanying report is made available publicly following each meeting.
The group comprises representatives from:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for the collation of national waste data and reports annually on Ireland’s performance against the targets set out in EU and national legislation including the Waste Framework Directive, the Landfill Directive and the Producer Responsibility Directives (Packaging and Packaging Waste, End-of-Life Vehicles, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Batteries and Accumulators).
Further information on individual waste streams, historical data, and the latest available data for Ireland is available on their website.
Under the Waste Management Act 1996, waste management planning is the responsibility of local authorities. In 2013, three regional Waste Management Offices were established to coordinate and assist local authorities.
In May 2015, they each published a Waste Management Plan for their respective areas. The plans give effect to national and EU waste policy, and address waste prevention and management (including generation, collection and treatment) over the period 2015-2021.
The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy commits to ensuring that the existing three Regional Waste Management Plans are replaced with a single National Waste Management Plan for a Circular Economy to cover the period 2022-2027.
In early 2021 the three Regional Waste Management Offices began the work of preparing for this new National Plan by launching a pre-draft consultation process. A further public consultation process will take place once the draft plan has been prepared, with publication of final Plan expected to take place in early 2022.
Depending on the nature of certain waste activities, you may need to apply for a waste facility permit or a certificate of registration from the relevant local authority, or obtain a licence from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If you are unsure of the need for any of these, please contact the EPA.
The National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO) administers the waste collection permitting system on behalf of all the local authorities.
The enforcement of the conditions attached to an individual Waste Collection Permit remains a matter for the relevant local authority.
The NWCPO maintains a publicly accessible list of waste collection permit holders, along with public notices and a range of application forms relating to waste collection permits.
Ireland's waste collection system is run, almost entirely, by private operators on a side by side competitive basis.
While local authorities have all but exited the household waste collection market, the sector still has obligations in relation to collecting household waste.
Read more on the structure of the market
The Minister of State for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Development Plan Delivery, Public Procurement and eGovernment with special responsibility for Communications and Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth, signed new regulations to introduce a new "Recovery Levy" of €10 per tonne on 3 August 2023 to take effect from 1 September 2023.
This new environmental levy will apply to municipal waste recovery operations in Ireland and to the export of municipal waste for recovery abroad. Alongside the introduction of a recovery levy Minister Smyth also signed legislation to increase the existing "Landfill Levy", which already applies to waste disposal operations at landfills in Ireland, by €10 per tonne.
The Waste Management (Landfill Levy)(Amendment) Regulations 2023 and the Circular Economy (Waste Recovery Levy) Regulations 2023 will both come into effect on 1 September 2023.
This delivers on the commitment contained in the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy to introduce a recovery levy to "apply to recovery operations at Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Landfills, Waste-to-Energy Plants and Co-Incineration Plants and the Export of MSW".
This measure is intended as a tool to help drive behavioural change in households and commercial enterprises by encouraging higher value waste management practices by moving material management up the waste hierarchy away from waste disposal and recovery to more recycling and re-use and to encourage greater efforts to segregate waste at source.
It is worth emphasising that any increased waste collection charges as a result of these levies will only apply only to residual "black" bin waste.
Householders and commercial enterprises can manage their waste collection charges by minimising the waste they produce in the first place and improving their waste segregation practices to maximise the amount of material they place in the mixed dry recyclable and food/bio-waste (brown) bin.
Revenues raised from the Recovery Levy and other future proposed environmental levies will be lodged to the new Circular Economy Fund where they will be ring fenced for use in promoting and supporting more sustainable waste management practices and the wider Circular Economy.
Find out more about managing and recycling your waste at www.mywaste.ie.