Infrastructure

Paper bins only

At your local bring bank you are likely to see bins like these, plus bins for cans, glass and other waste. It is important to separate your waste before heading off to a bring bank.

Paper bins only

Paper bins only

At your local bring bank you are likely to see bins like these, plus bins for cans, glass and other waste. It is important to separate your waste before heading off to a bring bank.

Enlarge image

Since the mid 1990s, when the Waste Management Act came into force, there have been big changes in how waste, particularly municipal waste, is handled in this country.  Before then, waste was brought directly from households and business to a nearby dump that was unlicensed and generally poorly operated with little controls on leachate and landfill gas.

With the introduction of a licensing system a large number of those dumps closed down and planning for waste handling and disposal was done on a regional basis.  This led to the development of bring banks and civic amenity sites, where people could deposit recyclables, and to material recovery facilities where waste was sorted and separated mechanically and manually.  It also led to a smaller number of larger landfills with properly engineered cells to contain leachate and with pipework in place to recover landfill gas.

Bring Banks and Civic Amenities

The table below charts the growth in bring banks and civic amenity sites in Ireland from 2005 to 2009 and shows the increasing tonnage of waste deposited at these sites.   While most of the population is now served by a collection system for recyclable materials these facilities continue to form a vital part of our waste infrastructure.

Bring banks and civic amenity sites 2005 – 2009

A typical compost bin

Compost bins, like the one in the image, are relatively cheap and provide an important source of environmental protection. It can also save you money on soil for your garden plants.

A typical compost bin

A typical compost bin

Compost bins, like the one in the image, are relatively cheap and provide an important source of environmental protection. It can also save you money on soil for your garden plants.

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Composting

Organic material, such as kitchen and garden waste, can be broken down by bacteria, fungi, worms and beetles in a controlled environment in a process called composting.  These organisms feed on the organic waste to leave a dark, nutrient-rich material that can be used as a soil conditioner and fertiliser. Many households now have home composting bins and recover much of their household organic waste, with over 62,447 tonnes recovered in this way in 2009.

In 2008 there were 35 commercial composting operations and 4 dedicated mushroom composting units in Ireland and Cré (The Composting Association of Ireland) was established in 2001 to promote this form of waste recovery.

Anaerobic Digestion

Another method of dealing with organic wastes is through digestion in tanks in the absence of oxygen.  This is known as anaerobic digestion and is very suitable for liquid organic wastes such as slurries and manures that are not suitable for composting.  The carbon in the waste is converted by bacteria to methane which can be used as a fuel for transport, delivered to the gas grid or used to generate electricity.  It is a clean and efficient way to extract energy from waste and, along with composting, has enormous potential in Ireland considering that almost 1.06 million tonnes of biodegradable material went to rot in landfills in 2009.  Economic instruments in the form of revised waste levies are required to incentivise these methods of waste recovery.

A waste dump

The waste keeps piling up.

Copyright Environmental Protection Agency

A waste dump
Copyright Environmental Protection Agency

A waste dump

The waste keeps piling up.

Copyright Environmental Protection Agency

Enlarge image

Landfills

Landfilling continues to be the dominant form of waste disposal in Ireland with 1.9 million tonnes of municipal waste going to 29 licensed landfills in 2009.  Landfill is, in fact, the least preferred option when dealing with waste.

This well-known diagram places it a the bottom of the waste heirarchy and so Ireland needs to use all possible legislative and economic instruments to encourage a move away from this form of waste disposal.

The existing landfill capacity in Ireland is adequate for a number of years into the future but some regions, particularly Dublin , are using facilities outside of their region at present and need to develop their own facilities soon.

Incinerators

Incineration, in this context, refers to the destruction of waste by burning it at high temperatures.  All modern incinerators recover the energy from such burning in the form of heat and/or electricity.  At present in Ireland there are a number of licensed incinerators attached to chemical and pharmaceutical plants that burn waste from the production process.  There are no commercial waste incinerators in Ireland although three units are planned for Dublin , Cork and Meath at present.  The Cork facility at Ringaskiddy plans to incinerate both hazardous and municipal waste while the other two are dedicated to municipal waste only.