Transitioning to circular practices - reducing waste to a minimum and keeping materials in use for longer - can also improve enterprises resilience and their ability to withstand and recover from disruption such as price shocks, supply chain disruption (e.g. as seen during COVID-19 and geo-political tensions), and exchange rate volatility.
This chapter shows:
Ireland generated 15.3 million tonnes of waste in 2022, an increase of 20.7% since 2012. Most of the increase was due to an increase in waste generated by the Construction sector, up from 1.1 million tonnes in 2012 to 2.8 million tonnes in 2022.
When we look at the sectoral distribution of waste in 2022, we see that:
Manufacturing activities (31.3%) and Construction (18.5%) together accounted for half of the waste generated in 2022, with construction related activities contributing significantly to the waste generated by the manufacturing sector, notably in the Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (NACE C23), and the Manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (NACE C24-25). See Figure 4.1 and Table 4.1.
| X-axis label | 2012 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry & fishing | 96251 | 292031 |
| Mining & quarrying | 2084654 | 1354536 |
| Manufacturing | 3988608 | 4810322 |
| Electricity, gas & steam | 374849 | 245705 |
| Water supply; sewerage, and waste management | 1937525 | 2051563 |
| Construction | 1132275 | 2844851 |
| Services (except wholesale of waste & scrap) | 1441897 | 1908043 |
| Wholesale of waste & scrap | 292 | 1411 |
| Households | 1656670 | 1840027 |
Across the EU, Construction was the largest contributor to waste generation, generating 38.7% of all waste, followed by Mining & Quarrying at 22.4%. See Figure 4.2 and Table 4.2.
Ireland had the ninth lowest level of waste generated per capita in the EU in 2022, at 2.9 tonnes per capita, compared to the EU average of 5 tonnes per capita. See Figure 4.3 and Table 4.3.
In Ireland, in 2022, over two-thirds (71.8%) of treated waste was treated in recovery operations: recycling (10.6% of the total treated waste), backfilling (51.9%) or energy recovery (9.3%). The remaining 28.1% was either landfilled (19.1%), incinerated without energy recovery (0.1%) or disposed of otherwise (9.0%). See Figure 4.4.
Between 2010 and 2022 there were significant increases in the volume and percentage share of waste going to recovery-backfilling, up from 21.9% of the total treated waste in 2010 to 51.9% in 2022, an increase of 4.9 million tonnes.
Over the same period, the proportion of waste that was landfilled fell in terms of both volume, down from 3.8 million tonnes to 2.6 million tonnes, and as a proportion of total waste treated, down from 40.1% in 2010 to 19.1% in 2022.
The proportion of treated waste that was recycled was down from 13.7% in 2010 to 10.6% in 2022, despite the volume of waste recycled increasing from 1.29 million tonnes to 1.43 million tonnes. See Table 4.4.
Note: Backfilling means a recovery operation where suitable waste is used for reclamation purposes in excavated areas or for engineering purposes in landscaping and where the waste is a substitute for non-waste materials.
Comparing Ireland to other EU countries, the proportion of treated waste that was backfilled is significantly higher in Ireland (51.9%) than the EU average (14.3%), while the proportion of treated waste that was recycled in Ireland (10.6%) was much lower than the EU average (41.2%). See Figure 4.4 and Table 4.5.
The amount of hazardous waste generated in Ireland as a proportion of total waste declined from 10.0% in 2010 to 4.4% in 2022, slightly below the EU average of 5.3%. See Figure 4.5 and Table 4.6.
Comparing Ireland to other EU countries, Ireland had the ninth highest level of hazardous waste at 4.4%, with Finland having the highest at 26.4% and Romania having the lowest level at 0.7%. See Figure 4.6 and Table 4.6.
Ireland generated a total of 834,959 tonnes of food waste in 2023, equivalent to 157 kgs of food waste per person, which is higher than the EU average of 129 kgs of food waste per capita. See Figure 4.7 and Table 4.7.
In Ireland in 2023, the Manufacture of Food Products & Beverages sector generated an estimated 305,121 tonnes (36.5%) of food waste, and activities by households generated a further 220,951 tonnes (26.5%). See Figure 4.8 and Table 4.8.
| % of total food waste | |
| Primary production of food - agriculture, fishing & aquaculture | 6.0 |
| Manufacture of food products & beverages | 36.5 |
| Retail & other distribution of food | 10.0 |
| Restaurants & food services | 21.0 |
| Total activities by households | 26.5 |
The recovery rate of packaging waste in Ireland has improved significantly over the 2001 to 2023 time period. In 2023, 93.9% of packaging waste was recovered, up 1.6% from 2022, but up significantly from the average annual figure of 37.8% for the 2000 to 2004 period. See Figure 4.9 and Table 4.9.
| Packaging waste recovered | |
| 2000-2004 average | 37.89 |
| 2005-2009 average | 62.89 |
| 2010-2014 average | 83.75 |
| 2015 | 91.38 |
| 2016 | 87.6 |
| 2017 | 85.83 |
| 2018 | 91.13 |
| 2019 | 94.37 |
| 2020 | 93.4 |
| 2021 | 90.24 |
| 2022 | 92.3 |
| 2023 | 93.88 |
In Ireland, the volume of Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) collected increased regularly over the period 2011-2021, before falling in each of the last two years.
In 2023, Ireland collected 63,946 tonnes down 10.9% from a peak of 71,811 tonnes in 2021. However, as Figure 2.9 shows, the 2023 figure was the fourth highest in the entire period from 2007 to 2023. See Figure 4.10 and Table 4.10.
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