New report reveals secrets to Ireland hitting waste targets

Irish environmental experts have revealed that Ireland needs to do much more if the country is to hit its EU directed targets for diverting waste from landfill.

In 2006, Ireland diverted just 64,825 tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste (OFBMW) from landfill sites. Most of this is food and garden waste.

The EU’s landfill directive dictates that Ireland divert 647,033 tonnes per year of OFBMW by 2010, rising to 941,891 tonnes by 2016.

‘Hitting Targets for Biodegradable Municipal Waste: Ten Options for Change’ was published this week by Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and makes ten recommendations as to how Ireland can reach its EU targets.

The paper was written by John Curtis, of EPA’s Strategic Policy Research Unit. Curtis said that “within 3 years Ireland must completely change how it manages OFBMW and by 2016 it must develop in excess of 1m tonnes of additional capacity.”

His ten recommendations were:

Promoting at source composting
Expanding Research and Development for at source composting
Banning the landfill of untreated municipal waste
Increasing the landfill levy
Undertaking market research for treated OFBMW products
Providing a subsidy for the treatment of OFBMW
Developing and assigning responsibility for a national waste management plan
Developing guidance on waste infrastructure and contaminated sites
Developing stabilised biowaste standards
Encouraging green procurement and undertake marketing of OFBMW products

In response to the paper, Ireland’s Environment Minister John Gormley said that Ireland faces a “formidable challenge”. He added that “the Government is committed to carrying out, as a matter of urgency, a review of waste policy which will examine the potential contribution of a range of technologies to improving waste management practices in Ireland.”