Disposal of Waste

Landfills represent the most common treatment accounting as they do for 61% of Ireland's municipal waste disposal. Waste can also be burned in incinerators with its energy recovered. Recycling and composting are seen as the most desirable method for certain types of our waste.

Below is a breakdown of the most popular methods of dealing with our waste.

Landfill

Disposing of waste in a landfill involves burying rubbish and this remains a common practice in most countries. Landfills were often established in abandoned or unused quarries or mining voids. They can create a number of adverse environmental impacts such as leachate, gas, wind-blown litter and the attraction of vermin. Methane gas is a common by-product of landfills. It is harmful because it can kill surface vegetation, is a potent greenhouse gas and it smells.

Part of the Government's policy on landfills is to move from a high number of poorly managed landfill facilities to a much smaller number, operated to the highest environmental standards. There were 87 local authority landfills in 1995, which decreased to 76 in 1998 and to 50 by the end of 2001. This downward trend has continued to 29 landfills as of July 2009.

The majority of landfills in Ireland are run by local authorities. The Department of the Environment , Community and Local Government plans to reduce the amount of landfill sites in the country to approximately 20 state-of-the-art sites. These landfills will be capable of energy recovery and will operate to the highest environmental standards.

 

Landfill Levy

Under the Waste Management Landfill Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2010, the landfill levy was increased to €30 euro per tonne, an increase of €5, for each tonne of waste disposed at landfill facilities, both authorised and unauthorised. At the time of enactment of this levy increase, 1 February 2010, it was proposed that future legislation would introduce significantly higher levy rates in order to further incentivise the diversion of waste from landfill.

 

Gallery

Poolbeg - the site of the Dublin plant

This is the site for the Dublin thermal treatment plant. The current power station is currently owned by ESB and sits beside the now-decommissioned Pidgeon House generating station where electricity was first generated in 1903.

Copyright John Kennedy
Poolbeg - the site of the Dublin plant
Copyright John Kennedy

Poolbeg - the site of the Dublin plant

This is the site for the Dublin thermal treatment plant. The current power station is currently owned by ESB and sits beside the now-decommissioned Pidgeon House generating station where electricity was first generated in 1903.

Copyright John Kennedy
Enlarge image

Incineration/Thermal treatment

This is a disposal method that involves the burning of waste material. It converts unwanted materials into heat, gas, steam and ash. The process is seen as a practical method of disposing of certain hazardous waste. By 2001 eleven small-scale plants in seven licensed industrial installations were in operation to deal with specific industrial waste streams.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has advised that two or three thermal treatment plants be established, with seven being proposed in regional plans. In 2008 plants in Dublin (Poolbeg - which will be capable of burning 600,000 tonnes of household waste each year) and Meath (Carranstown) received planning permission, while a development in Cork could be in operation by 2010.

The Dublin City Council - through their Waste Management plan - aim by 2013 to be sending 25% of the city's waste to thermal treatment plants and sending 16% to landfills.

These installations often attract opposition because of health and safety fears. The Department's Race Against Waste campaign - in May 2004 - launched a series of factsheets aimed at providing better information on thermal treatment.


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