Report shows need for thermal treatment of waste, says Roche

The National Waste Report 2004 published this morning highlights the need for thermal treatment, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche said last night.

Commenting on the report's finding that the State lacked infrastructure - specifically an indigenous recycling industry or a method of treating residual waste - Mr Roche said it was "time for Ireland to take responsibility for the waste produced here".

While he welcomed the recycling achievements noted in the report, Mr Roche said it was "simply not acceptable that we export our [ residual] waste for disposal on our EU neighbours. Exporting our hazardous waste will not, in particular, always be open to us. If we do not deal with it ourselves, we will see a serious threat to our industrial base, particularly in an area like Cork where the economic engine is dependent on the pharmaceutical industry."

There was "a major gap in the management of our waste and that is the lack of waste-to- energy thermal treatment facilities in Ireland.

"We are out of step in this regard with the rest of Europe. The decisions by the EPA to grant licences for two new thermal treatment facilities in Ireland represent a significant change."

Mr Roche added that he would be publishing a national strategy on biodegradable waste later this month. The strategy would involve mechanical composting.

He also said the number of bring centres around the country was being increased dramatically.

In relation to the number of households which did not have a refuse collection service - said by the Environmental Protection Agency to be 23 per cent of all households - Mr Roche said these were likely to be rural houses.

"No country has a 100 per cent refuse collection service and this is another reason why I want to extend the bring centres. I put one in in Avoca [ Co Wicklow] recently and it has been doing incredibly well."

He speculated that in some areas people were engaged in "back yard burning" of their waste, which he said was now illegal.

Mr Roche said the problems identified by the report would be addressed by up to 120 additional staff in the Environmental Protection Agency "who are now combating rogue operators and ensuring that unauthorised activities are tackled.

"Enforcement remains a top priority for me and I intend that everything possible will be done to further tip the balance in favour of legitimate operators," he said.

There were many achievements noted in the report which were proof that Government's integrated waste management policies were working, he added.

The report found that in 2004 recycling rates for construction and demolition waste in the building industry had reached 85 per cent. In addition, an EU target to recycle 35 per cent of our municipal waste by 2013 was almost met - the rate achieved was 32.6 per cent - by 2004.

A target to recycle more than 50 per cent of packaging waste by 2005 was exceeded, with 56 per cent being recycled in 2004. As a result, landfilling decreased for the third year in a row, with the State now landfilling 67 per cent of our municipal waste.