CONSUMERS RECYCLED more than half of all household packaging last year, an increase of almost 7 per cent on the 2006 recycling figure.
The latest figures issued by recycling body Repak show that household packaging recycling grew to 185,000 tonnes in 2007 up from 173,000 tonnes the previous year.
The total amount of used packaging recycled in Ireland in 2007 was 643,000 tonnes, enough to fill the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing.
Wood recycling saw the greatest increase with a growth of 12.6 per cent, up to 125,100 tonnes.
Glass recycling increased by 12 per cent. More than 120,000 tonnes of glass were recycled in 2007, the equivalent of 244 million bottles - 19 per cent of the total amount of packaging recycled. Metal recycling saw a 5.7 per cent increase, with 55,000 tonnes recovered last year, the equivalent of 2.1 billion food cans.
Paper and cardboard recycled totalled 286,000 tonnes, enough to create 3.7 billion cereal boxes. Paper and cardboard recycling was up 3 per cent, about 44 per cent of all recycled packaging. More than 50,000 tonnes of plastic were recovered, accounting for 8 per cent of all packaging recycled.
Companies paid €27.1 million last year to fund recycling throughout the State, an increase of 14 per cent on the 2006 fees. The growth in recycling and a 7 per cent increase in packaging levies resulted in this €3.4 million increase in fees raised by Repak.
Repak chief executive Andrew Hetherington said the increase showed households were making a considerable effort to recycle.