The amount of waste generated in this country amounts to the equivalent of 2.7 tonnes per year for every person living in the State, Tipperary county councillors have been told. Submissions from the public invited on new National Draft Waste Plan.

We need to reduce our waste

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The amount of waste generated in this country amounts to the equivalent of 2.7 tonnes per year for every person living in the State, the May meeting of Tipperary County Council in Clonmel was told.

Philippa King, Regional Co-ordinator for the Environment in the Southern Waste Region, said a major drive was now on to reduce the amount of waste generated in Ireland through recycling and reusing.

She said people could now make submissions on a draft waste management plan that had been drawn up for the entire country by visiting the website: mywaste.ie

Ms King said submissions will be accepted until July 5 and urged as many people as possible to make their views known. The plan was aimed at reducing the 13.9 million tonnes of waste produced every year in Ireland – 58% of which was generated by the construction and demolition sectors.

Currently, Ireland does not have the facilities to cater for all the waste being produced. Some 40% is exported to other EU countries and further afield.

A total of €285 million is spent on waste related services in Ireland every year – way in excess of the €70 million income generated by the waste sector, Ms King revealed.

The aim of the plan was to encourage everyone to be less wasteful and to recycle and reuse more. Ms King also urged consumers to be more responsible about disposing of waste, saying a significant number of households were not registered with a waste collection company, while 30% of waste put in recycle bins was contaminated.

She said the new draft plan sets out 83 priority actions to be taken to significantly reduce the volumes of waste being produced.

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