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

Some general observations are as follows:
882
� The highest recycling rates for household waste achieved over an area of a
given size (in terms of household numbers) tends to decline as the number of
households covered increases (so in the best Italian regions, recycling rates
are moving towards 60%, whilst at the local level, they may exceed 70%,
though at the national level, rates are now around 50%). This is because
recycling rates are calculated as averages. The larger the number of
households covered, the lower the maximum rate for the area of that size
becomes. This is not necessarily due to ‘limits’. It may equally relate to the
(limited) extent of diffusion of high performance systems across a region;
� Even so, household recycling rates of 70% are achieved in regions with a
greater number of households than are present in the whole of Ireland. For
example, Flanders, a region of 6 million inhabitants in 308 municipalities
(grouped in 25 intermunicipal waste management associations) achieved a
rate for separate collection of 71% in 2005. 1102
� The rates of recycling of municipal waste for the leading EU Member States –
these are Austria, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy – are, according to
most recent data, recycling 64%, 62%, 60%, 50% and 60%, respectively, of
municipal waste according to preliminary figures produced from Eurostat data
for 2007. The figures for Austria, Germany and Belgium are country estimates,
with the figures for 2006 suggesting rates of 67%, 62% and 58%
respectively; 1103
� Recycling rates tend to be highest in rural and suburban areas. In this respect,
one could argue that Ireland ought to be capable of achieving higher, not
lower, rates of recycling, though in practice, much depends upon how the
matter is approached. In some rural regions of Austria, such as Upper Austria,
the collection of recyclables is not so heavily focused on collection from the
kerbside / doorstep, yet the recycling rate still reaches 70% (see Box 2). This
experience highlights how adapting the collection of materials to specific
circumstances can enable the achievement of high recycling rates in rural
areas in an efficient manner. Other regions of Austria achieve high recycling
rates in areas of relatively low population density.
This brief review is at least suggestive of what might be achieved in future. If recycling
rates of 70% or so are becoming more common locally, and if the trend is upwards, it
would seem to make sense to consider targeting those sorts of rates in a country
where the waste management system is ‘in development’ at some stage in the future.
Similarly, if Ireland is to constrain household waste generation, residual waste targets
should reflect such rates in the context of relatively static waste arisings.
1102 OVAM (u.d.) Activiteitenoverzicht 2006, Mechelen: OVAM.
1103 This data has been gathered
29/09/09