Ireland remains the biggest producer of plastic packaging per head of population in the EU according to the latest Eurostat waste figures.
The 2019 European Commission statistics also show we’re fifth worst at recycling the plastics we produce with just under 28% being reused - a slight improvement from fourth place the previous year.
Two Environmental Protection Agency reports last year pointed to a “worrying trend” in relation to the way we are dealing with our waste.
Read More: National Food Waste Prevention Roadmap aims to cut amounts we throw away in Ireland
The first, released in September 2021, showed 69% of Ireland’s plastic waste is burned instead of being recycled - sending additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
A second EPA waste report published in December found that while waste was rising to record levels- recycling was falling - and that Ireland is over reliant on incineration to tackle our waste.
In 2019, almost half (46%) our rubbish was burned - up from just 4% in 2009.
The EPA said at the time systemic change is needed to “shift the focus to designing out waste and promoting reuse and recycling”.
New research from Queen’s University in Belfast has found plastic pollution is a threat to Dublin Bay prawns who ingest them in microparticles on the seabed.
We already know as a result of previous studies microplastics can damage the organs of some species and impact fish growth.
Meanwhile it has been widely reported how the 14 million tonnes of plastic waste that ends up in the world’s oceans each year can severely injure and even kill marine life that ingest or become tangled in plastic debris.
We all know plastic is an escalating situation we must deal with - but the solutions are there and some have already been deployed.
Ireland’s first seabins were installed in Dun Laoghaire Harbour in 2018 in a bid to tackle plastic pollution, while coastal communities around the island are taking matters into their own hands with litter picking groups.
And it seems the issue is now firmly on the government’s radar too.
Minister of State with special responsibility for Communications and Circular Economy, Ossian Smyth TD, announced last year that soft plastics can now go in recycling bins up and down the country.
He said at the time: “This is a significant and very positive development in Irish recycling and waste management.
“Currently in Ireland we recycle less than a third of all plastic packaging waste.
“We have commitments to increase our plastic packaging recycling figure to 50% by 2025 and 55% by 2030.”
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications have also announced a number of schemes and key targets under their Waste Action Plan for the Circular Economy.
They include:
- A deposit and return scheme for plastic bottles and aluminium cans
- Single Use Plastics ban, including cotton bud sticks, cutlery, plates, stirrers, chopsticks, straws, polystyrene containers and oxo-degradable plastic products from July 2021
- Commitment to ban further products like, but not limited to, non medical wet wipes, SUP hotel toiletries, SUP sugar/sauce/mayonnaise/etc items;
- Reduce number of SUPs being placed on the market by 2026
They also hope to bring households and businesses on board with much improved recycling targets, standardised bin colours across the country, levies on things that throwaway cups, a waste oversight body to manage consumer rights and education and awareness campaigns to help people manage their waste.
Many of the textiles we throw away also contain plastic, so a textile action group is also being set up to improve the curcularity of our clothing and to work with Irish designers to promote more eco-friendly textiles and design.
Negotiations are still underway on a UN led international agreement on plastics - which is expected to be in place by 2024.
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