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The Household Environmental Behaviours - Waste and Recycling gathers information on how households across Ireland reuse items, dispose of waste, and about noise and radon pollution in their household. It is a voluntary survey carried out under Section 24 of the Statistics Act, 1993.
This nationwide survey of households gives us an accurate picture of how households reuse and dispose of items, and how noise and radon pollution affect households.
The statistics we produce are used by people, enterprises, local authorities and national government to make policy decisions and to plan for our futures.
Mandatory reporting on re-use is required under the Waste Framework Directive and Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/19.
The National Circular Economy policy framework consists of the National Waste Management Plan, the Circular Economy Act 2022 and the EPA Circular Economy Programme. Data from this survey provides insights into the following targets from the policy framework:
The questionnaire was designed to capture how Irish households reuse items, dispose of waste, and about noise and radon pollution in their household.
A consultation process was carried out as part of the questionnaire design, and stakeholder feedback was incorporated to ensure the relevance of our outputs.
Overall, the questionnaire can be broken down into these sections:
The Household Environment survey data was collected from private households. Institutional households, (e.g. nursing homes, barracks, boarding schools, hotels etc.) were not covered by the survey.
The sample frame for this survey is the Opt-in panel. It asked a sample of 10,530 who have opted-in to complete surveys for the CSO. The entire sample were emailed. The opt-in panel is based off a probability sample from the Census of Population 2022.
The achieved sample size was 4,731 respondents. This represents a response rate of 45%.
The table below shows how many respondents there was for each classification that the tables are broken down into.
| Demographic | Sample households |
| State | 4723 |
| Sex of respondent | |
| Female | 2491 |
| Male | 2232 |
| Nature of occupancy | |
| Owner-occupied | 4132 |
| Rented | 490 |
| Other | 101 |
| Number of occupants | |
| 1 occupant | 590 |
| 2 occupants | 1614 |
| 3 occupants | 845 |
| 4 occupants | 995 |
| 5 or more occupants | 679 |
| Number of children | |
| 1 person under 18 years | 610 |
| 2 persons under 18 years | 676 |
| 3 or more persons under 18 years | 350 |
| Dwelling Type | |
| Detached house | 2281 |
| Flat/apartment in a purpose-built block | 246 |
| Semi-detached house | 1406 |
| Terraced house | 754 |
| Other | 36 |
| Construction date | |
| 1961-1980 | 905 |
| 1981-2000 | 1321 |
| 2001 or later | 1468 |
| Before 1961 | 1004 |
| Unknown construction period | 25 |
| Region | |
| Border | 273 |
| Dublin | 1572 |
| Mid-East | 774 |
| Mid-West | 409 |
| Midlands | 214 |
| South-East | 372 |
| South-West | 725 |
| West | 384 |
| Urban/Rural | |
| Rural | 1585 |
| Urban | 3138 |
| Age group of respondent | |
| 17-34 years | 459 |
| 35-44 years | 765 |
| 45 to 54 years | 1118 |
| 55 to 64 years | 1126 |
| 65 years or over | 1255 |
| Working status of respondent | |
| Looking after home/family | 230 |
| Retired from employment | 958 |
| Working for payment or profit | 3016 |
| Other | 519 |
The survey was launched on 10 January 2025 and closed on 23 February 2025. The questions were related to the year 2024.
To provide national population results, the survey results were weighted to represent the entire population of persons aged 17 years and over. The survey results were weighted to agree with population estimates broken down by age group, sex and region.
Design weights were calculated for all individuals in the initial sample. The design weights are computed as the inverse of the selection probability of the unit. The purpose of design weights is to eliminate the bias induced by unequal selection probabilities.
These design weights were then adjusted for non-response. This eliminated the bias introduced by discrepancies caused by non-response, particularly critical when the non-responding individuals are different from the responding ones in respect to some survey variables as this may create substantial bias in the estimates. Design weights are adjusted for non-response by dividing the design weights of each responding unit in the final/achieved sample by the (weighted) response probability of the corresponding group or strata.
To obtain the final household weights for the results, after the previous steps were carried out, the distribution of respondents by NUTS3 region, sex and age was calibrated to the population based on the Labour Force Survey for Quarter 4 2024, using the R package Icarus.
Estimates for number of persons where there are less than 30 persons in a cell are too small to be considered reliable. These estimates are presented with a double period (..) in the relevant tables.
Where there are 30-49 persons in a cell, estimates are considered to have a wider margin of error and should be treated with caution. These cells are presented with parentheses ( ).
All data from surveys are subject to sampling and other survey errors, which are relatively greater in respect of smaller values.
The sum of row or column percentages in the tables in this report may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
In the circular economy system, we use less raw material, we design products for long-life and recyclability, we share products, we use them for longer and we reuse and repair things before we recycle or throw them away.
For the purposes of this report, ‘radon’ encompasses 222Rn and its progeny.
Radon is a radioactive gas that can cause lung cancer. It is formed in the ground by the radioactive decay of uranium which is present in all rocks and soils. You cannot see it, smell it or taste it. It can only be measured with special detectors. Radon can cause lung cancer when exposed to high levels over a long period of time.
Bq/m³ (Becquerels per cubic meter) is a unit of measurement for the concentration of radon gas in the air.
The questionnaire included a section on sociodemographic characteristics of the household and the individual respondent
Respondents were asked: What is your sex? Responses were categorised as Female or Male.
This classification was available from the Census of Population 2022. Responses were categorised as:
Respondents were asked: How many people (including yourself) live in this household?
This classification was available from the Census of Population 2022.
This classification was available from the Census of Population 2022. The type of dwelling the respondents lived in were categorised as follows:
This classification was available from the Census of Population 2022. The responses were classified to the following categories:
The regional classification used in this release is based on the NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units) classification used by Eurostat. This classification was available from the Census of Population 2022. The composition of the regions is set out below.
Areas are classified as Urban or Rural based on Census of Population 2022. Urban refers to settlements with a total population of 1,500 or more. Rural refers to the population outside urban areas and includes towns with a population of less than 1,500 persons.
Respondents were asked: What is your age? Responses were categorised as:
This classification was available from the Census of Population 2022. Responses were categorised as:
The Central Statistics Office wishes to thank the respondent households for their participation in the survey.
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