Waste Policy and the Circular Economy

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, transporting and storage of food all use a significant amount of resources. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 753,000 tonnes of food waste of food waste was generated in Ireland in 2021.

Approximately 29% of the total food waste in 2021 came from households (221,000 tonnes). 29% comes from the processing and manufacturing sector, with the remainder coming from restaurants and food service (25%), primary production (7%), and retail and other distribution of food (10%).

For more information on Ireland’s food waste statistics, see the EPA website.

Ireland is committed to reducing food waste by 50% by 2030 – in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap 2023-2025 sets out a number of priority actions to bring the focus on food waste prevention, across key sectors in the food supply chain, together in a coherent manner.

European Commission Proposal for Targeted Amendments to the Waste Framework Directive with respect to food waste

The European Commission published its proposal in July 2023 to introduce legally binding food waste reduction targets by way of a revision to the current Waste Framework Directive. An amended Directive to give effect to the proposal is currently being negotiated at EU level. For more information see the European Commission website. If you would like to provide feedback on the Proposal please send your comments to foodwaste@decc.gov.ie

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:

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