Ireland is at risk of missing EU recycling targets, Newstalk Business Editor Joe Lynam has said. 

On average, EU citizens produce 530kg of municipal waste each and Mr Lynam said Ireland is “not the best in the class but not the worst in the class” when it comes to recycling that waste.

“Glass recycling is close to 84% in this country and that is one of the best in Europe,” he told The Pat Kenny Show.

“Overall, our recycling rate is 41% - in other words, we recycle 41% of the waste that we throw out - but the target is 55%.

“That is EU mandated and must be reached by 2025, so we’ve a little bit of work to do there.”

Ireland is one of 18 member states identified by the European Commission as at risk of missing that target - something the bloc conceded has been negatively impacted by the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

Plastic

EU member states are also expected to be recycling half of all plastic waste by the year 2025 but this is another area in which Ireland fares poorly.

“An EU study has found Ireland produces more plastic waste per person than any other nation,” Mr Lynam said.

“Some plastics, PET is what they are called, are easily recycled but other types contain chemicals or mixed colour or all sorts of labellings are not as easy to recycle or reuse.

“It means you need to physically separate out your plastic, sometimes the computer can help, sometimes only the human eye or hand can do it.”

In addition, Ireland relies heavily on exporting waste - some of which ends up in incinerators.

“I was struck by the amount that we actually export,” Mr Lynam said.

“1.2 million tons is exported; I was looking at a piece by Bloomberg and the Bloomberg journalist attached an Apple air tag just to see where some of it went and  it made its way from the UK to Holland and stopped a little bit there.

“Then it went to Germany and stopped a bit there, then it went to Poland… and eventually it ended up in Turkey where it disappeared entirely.”

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Main image: Rubbish bins.