Ireland Must Generate Less Waste

Efforts to recycle are being undermined by the increasing amount of waste we produce, according to the Minister of State.

Speaking at the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Minister of State Tony Killeen said: “We should recycle and recover all our waste – but we must generate less waste to recycle”.

Addressing the Local Authority Prevention Demonstration Conference organised by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) the Minister said: “Significant increases in the quantities of materials being recovered and recycled are, unfortunately, being offset by larger increases in the quantities of waste being generated.

"We collectively have to act now to minimise the generation of unnecessary waste”, he added.

Minister Killeen said that existing waste prevention policies will not be sufficient going forward.

A recently announced international waste review will look at best practice models internationally on waste prevention and examine how these might be applied in Ireland.

The review will also look at anticipated EU legislation such as the revised Waste Framework Directive which proposes benchmarking and target setting in the area of waste prevention.

The Minister welcomed the review of the National Waste Prevention Programme itself which the EPA were currently carrying out. “We need to see full stakeholder involvement in crafting innovative and viable solutions on waste prevention which is now a central focus of Government policy”.

The EPA is the lead agency in developing the National Waste Prevention Programme – or NWPP. The Local Authority Prevention Demonstration Programme is acknowledged to be the Agency’s flagship programme, under the NWPP, for the local authority sector and is specifically aimed at empowering local authorities to achieve the prevention of waste in their local areas.

The Minister said he welcomes initiatives “aimed at changing existing waste disposal practices, reducing unnecessary volumes of waste, whether it be food waste, farm plastics or packaging materials as well as encouraging re-reuse”.

“Businesses must reduce their costs if they wish to remain competitive and the most effective way of reducing costs including recycling costs is to prevent waste coming in the door in the first instance” he said, adding that this also applies to households, the sector which saw the greatest increase in municipal waste arisings in 2006. “Householders can reduce the costs of managing waste by recycling more – but will save more by generating less waste,” he concluded.

(VB)