Municipal Waste Quantities

Municipal solid waste includes household, commercial (including non-process industrial waste) and street cleansing waste (street sweepings, street bins and municipal parks and cemeteries maintenance waste, litter campaign material. In Ireland , the generation of waste grew rapidly during the recent economic boom. However, waste generation has decreased during the current economic downturn. In 2009, 2.9 million tonnes of municipal waste was generated, which is less than the 2004 figure. The amount of municipal waste which is recycled has also risen in recent years and in 2009 39% (1.1 M tones) of municipal waste was recovered. See the diagram below for recent trends in municipal waste generation.