International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

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waste from these sources. Member States can add more material waste
streams from household or similar wastes to this target (e.g. biowaste) in
which case the 50% target would apply to the totality of all waste streams
included. I would also like to draw your attention to Article 11(3) of the draft
revised Waste Framework Directive which specifies that any eventual
modalities related to the application and calculation methods for verifying
compliance with the targets need to be elaborated by the Commission and the
Member States in comitology.
The most recent EPA report suggests that recycling rates for the four materials under
consideration paper, metal, plastic, glass, was such that the target would be met for
each of metals, paper and glass, but not plastic (see Table 1-1). The target would be
met if one aggregated the figures for all 4 materials.
The picture is quite different if one looks only at household waste (see Table 1-2).
Here, the 50% target is not met for the materials in combination. The target is just
exceeded for paper, it is easily exceeded for glass, but in respect of plastics and
metals, the performance is below what is suggested.
Pending the agreement of rules described in para 3 above, Ireland would appear to
be already meeting targets for municipal waste, though the hierarchy and Article 10
should still be followed, subject to life-cycle thinking suggesting otherwise. Hence, the
target under the Waste Framework Directive should be considered a bare minimum,
and in any case, it may yet be supplemented by a requirement to separate biowaste
at source.
Table 1-1: Recycling Performance for 4 Key WFD Materials, Municipal Waste
Managed Managed
Managed Landfilled Landfilled
Landfilled Recycled
Recycled Recycled
Recycled
(tonnes)
(tonnes) (tonnes)
(tonnes) (tonnes)
(tonnes) (%)
(%)
Metals 133,500 50,000 83,499 62.5%
Paper 914,069 384,245 529,824 58.0%
Plastic 288,760 223,755 65,005 22.5%
Glass 182,554 48,075 134,479 73.7%
Total 1,518,883 706,075 812,807 53.5%
Source: EPA (2009) National Waste Report 2007, Wexford: EPA.
Table 1-2: Recycling Performance for 4 Key WFD Materials, Household Waste
Managed Managed
Managed Landfilled
Landfilled Recycled
Recycled Recycled
Recycled
(tonnes)
(tonnes) (tonnes) (tonnes)
(tonnes) (tonnes) (tonnes)
(tonnes) (%)
(%)
Metals 48,021 35,577 12,444 25.9%
Paper 385,074 187,350 197,724 51.3%
Plastic 195,881 153,662 42,219 21.6%
Glass 131,300 38,759 92,540 70.5%
Total 760,276 415,348 344,927 45.4%
Source: EPA (2009) National Waste Report 2007, Wexford: EPA.
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes