Ireland faces financial penalties for failing to meet waste targets

Environment: There is a significant risk Ireland will face financial penalties for failing to meet EU targets on diverting waste from landfill, the comptroller's report said.

While the overall percentage of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) going to landfill has been falling, the volume of waste going to landfill has continued to increase in the period 1995 to 2004.

BMW waste is defined as "waste that is capable of undergoing decomposition over time through natural processes. . . it is typically made up of waste such as food and garden material, together with other biodegradable materials such as paper and cardboard, wood and textiles", according to the report.

Under the terms of the 1999 EU Landfill Directive Ireland has been obliged to reduce the level of BMW going to landfill in stages up to 2016 and to publish a national strategy on waste management. In 1995 the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Environment agreed a figure of 1.3 million tonnes of BMW being generated, 92 per cent of which was being sent to landfill.

The maximum amount of BMW that may be sent to landfill, according to the directive, will be 75 per cent of the 1995 level in July 2006 (ie 975,000 tonnes), 50 per cent of that (ie 650,000 tonnes) in July 2009 and 35 per cent of that (455,000 tonnes) in July 2016.

The comptroller said: "There have been some inroads into reducing the proportion sent to landfill. By 2004, 67 per cent [of that year's total] was going to landfill compared with 85 per cent in 2001. However in absolute terms slightly more was being sent to landfill in 2004 than in 1995."

He continued: "It would appear that Ireland will fail to meet the targets set down in the landfill directive."

The accounting officer of the department told the comptroller he was confident the National Strategy in Biodegradable Waste formed a "credible basis for the achievement of landfill targets". He also pointed to progress such as that almost 33 per cent of waste was recycled in 2004 compared with 11 per cent in 1995.

"The accounting officer acknowledged that monitoring and review of strategy implementation will be crucial if the challenging targets are to be achieved," the comptroller's report said.