Waste

We produce huge amounts of rubbish everyday. The total quantity of municipal (household, commercial and street cleansing) waste generated in Ireland in 2001 was 2,704,035 tonnes. If all this waste was loaded into waste trucks, the line of trucks would stretch from Dublin to Rome.

We have a major waste challenge in Ireland. We all produce too much waste – every Irish home produces over a tonne of waste each year. It takes a vast amount of resources to dispose and treat this waste.

The Waste Hierarchy illustrates the range of waste management options that currently exist ranging from the most environmentally sound option (i.e. minimise waste production) down to the least environmentally sound option (landfilling of waste).