Climate Action: Waste and the Circular Economy

The Climate Action Plan 2021includes a suite of measures to help reduce waste and transition towards a circular economy. These include:

• Strengthening the regulatory and enforcement frameworks for the waste collection and management system, to maximise circular economy principles;
• Reduce food waste by 50% and ensure that all plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2030;
• Increase capacity to recycle packaging waste by 70%, and plastic package waste by 55%;
• Enact the Circular Economy Bill 2021;
• Publish a whole-of-Government Circular Economy Strategy including focus on awareness raising, Green Public Procurement and international partnerships;
• Develop a Bioeconomy Action Plan;
• Develop new and expanded environmental levies to encourage reduced resource consumption and incentivise higher levels of re-use and recycling;
• Establish a Circular Economy Innovation Scheme; and
• Develop a Food Waste Prevention Roadmap.

A circular economy is based on long-life products that can be renewed, reused, repaired and upgraded to preserve our natural resources, protect habitats and reduce pollution.

Our Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy was published in September 2020. It provides a roadmap to transition to a circular economy in the decade ahead. It includes over 200 measures, such as:

• Halving our food waste by 2030
• Deposit and return scheme for plastic bottles and aluminium cans
• Banning certain single use plastics from July 2021
• Ensuring all packaging is reusable or recyclable by 2030.
• Stronger enforcement powers

In addition to the publication of the Waste Action Plan, the following actions have been completed:

• Public consultation launched on a new Circular Economy Strategy
• New waste enforcement structures put in place to strengthen enforcement in relation to waste collection and management.
• Promotion of long-life products that can be reused, repaired, or upgraded, by embedding circular economy principles in Irish manufacturing.
• Structural improvements have been made to help local authorities better respond to waste issues, including illegal dumping and improving waste separation for reuse and recycling.

For more information on the progress Ireland has made to date, please see the Climate Action Plan Progress Reports and Waste Policy and the Circular Economy.

The waste sector was responsible for 1.6% of Ireland's Greenhouse Gas emissions in 2020.

This includes emissions from solid waste disposal, composting, waste incineration, open burning of waste and wastewater treatment and discharge.

Each year, Irish households produce around one tonne of waste. Whether it is recycled or ends up in a landfill, all that waste must be transported, treated and disposed of. More information and statistics on Ireland’s Waste Story is available here .

The State provides a number of supports to help you recycle and dispose of your waste correctly:

• Free collection, recycling and disposal of Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Batteries (WEEE).
• Free End of Life Vehicle (ELV) disposal: Authorised Treatment Facilities ensure safe and correct disposal of unusable vehicles.
• For more information on what you can do at home to reduce your waste go to MyWaste.ie.

Please click here to return to the main climate action page.