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

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� textiles
� glass
� paper and cardboard
� old metals
� small dangerous wastes
� when producers responsibility
� Light packaging fraction (only €0.125 for cost of production and distribution of
the blue bag).
In Flanders, this approach has delivered considerable success. The residual waste
target has largely been met, whilst recycling rates are of the order 70%.
The Flemish approach is interesting. The targets for residual waste effectively
encourage both recycling and composting / digestion as well as waste prevention.
Recycling targets do not do this. Indeed, in some countries, recycling targets can be
met through collecting additional quantities of waste, notably garden waste, with
relatively limited impact on the quantity of residual waste generated. A residual waste
target is, in short, better aligned with the hierarchy that a straightforward recycling
target.
It could be argued that a waste prevention target and a waste recycling target, acting
together, could achieve similar, perhaps better, results. However, prevention targets
are not straightforward to set (especially where data is not of high quality), and
indeed, the targets might need to be differentiated across local authorities depending
upon current performance. Residual waste targets are, to some degree, fairer across
local authority types. Some inhabitants, residing in flats, generate less waste than
those in rural areas, especially in respect of garden waste. Where garden waste is
collected, authorities may collect more waste, but high recycling rates can be
achieved relatively straightforwardly.
It is important to stress that the question as to what levels of performance can be
achieved in future, and what that might imply for maximum levels of performance, is
not the same as the question ‘what level of performance can be achieve today?’ or
even, ‘what level of performance could be achieved today?’ It is a future-oriented
question, and one whose answer will be affected by policy, as well as by wider
developments in the nature of products, consumption and waste.
There is no fixed maximum rate for recycling and composting / digestion of waste
streams (for Ireland or anywhere else), and nor is there any clear understanding as to
what might be achieved in respect of constraining waste growth, or reducing waste.
The composition of waste streams, and the processes available for recycling them,
will change over time, and are, at the margin, amenable to being shifted by policy.
Technologies also change, allowing for new uses of materials collected separately
from the waste stream. A brief review of recent history would demonstrate that in
developed economies, where the challenges of recycling are arguably growing as the
waste stream becomes more complex, the highest recycling rates being achieved are
trending upwards over time, not down. Today, it is not uncommon for municipal waste
recycling rates of 70% to be achieved in some regions, though no Member State
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