Costa Rica Reciclaje | Reciclar Aluminio | Reciclar Plastico | Reciclar Papel | Reciclar Carton | Reciclar Latas | Reciclar Basura | Basura Reciclaje | Material Reciclaje

Español » English

Recycling Guide

  • First: All kinds of papers.
  • Second: Cans and bottles that have been rinsed.
  • Third: Biodegradables, such as fruit peels and vegetables that can be used as organic composite.
  • Fourth: Non-recyclables.

Call for urgent action on Ireland’s
waste is too late

Article By Recycling Today - http://www.recyclingtoday.com

The Irish waste sector has warned that a call from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for “urgent action” for Ireland to meet its EU 2010 landfill targets could be too late. A discussion paper published at the beginning of this month entitled Hitting the targets for biodegradable municipal waste: Ten targets for change said that the outcomes currently being achieved with biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) are “less than satisfactory”. The EPA’s National Waste Report revealed that 1.4 million tonnes of BMW were landfilled in 2006.

Dr Andrew Walsh, managing director of Ireland based Celtic Composting Systems (CCS), told RWW: “Given that the time frame to develop any form of meaningful bio-waste infrastructure, whether it is composting facilities, biogas plants or mechanical biological treatment sites, is three+ years, we are beyond urgent. It would seem highly improbable that Ireland can now make up the shortfall by 2010.

“Biological treatment infrastructure has been largely neglected and has been developing on an ad hoc localised basis as opposed to following a national policy driver. Fundamentally, legal and fiscal instruments have been absent, e.g. no compost or stabilised bio-waste standards, no landfill restrictions on bio-waste, no incentives to stabilise waste prior to landfill, a static landfill tax and no specific capital grants for the private sector.

“As a result, there has been no genuine incentive to divert bio-waste from landfill and the risks have been high for those developing the few private bio-waste facilities that do exist. Now the industry may be required to respond in a less than ideal accelerated manner that could have been avoided.”

Speaking to RWW, PJ Rudden, group business director of consultancy RPS Group, said: “I agree with the EPA that we need to vigorously tackle the diversion of biodegradable waste from landfill. As the EPA points out, our National Biodegradable Waste Strategy points the recommended way forward as a combination of biological and thermal treatment.

“As recycling rates in Ireland are now reaching the best in Europe averaging from 40% to 50% and substantial residual waste remains to be managed, there is now an inescapable requirement for waste to energy to reduce landfill rates to 20% or less in accordance with Northern European norms.”

Commenting on the EPA report, Green Party environment minister, John Gormley, said: “We need some new thinking to break some old habits and this report from the EPA makes a very welcome contribution to finding solutions to obstacles in out path.”

EPA said that 92% of BMW was landfilled in 2006 and suggested 10 areas to encourage landfill diversion of this material. The list included promoting at-source composting.