Households across Ireland and the EU are producing too much waste and reusing and recycling too little, the EU’s independent auditors have warned.
Ireland produces amongst the most waste per person in Europe.
The European Environment Agency (EEA) recently criticised Ireland’s progress on waste.
Waste generation in Ireland is increasing and there is a problem with an over reliance on exporting waste elsewhere, the EEA warned.
“Urgent improvements are needed to meet 2025 recycling targets”, the agency said.
Now the European Court of Auditors (ECA) has also weighed in with concerns about Ireland and a number of other EU countries.
To achieve these goals, the EU should create the conditions necessary for a viable recycling industry”, said Stef Blok, the ECA Member responsible for the audit.
“Citizens and businesses play a crucial role. Fiscal incentives, as well as requiring citizens to pay for the volume or weight of waste they generate, can encourage them to separate and reduce waste.”
Auditors said progress on reuse and recycling is too slow. The ECA also criticised the European Commission for being slow to enforce EU targets.
Waste from households, offices and shops accounts for 27 percent of the total waste generated in the EU, according to the report.
Whilst the EU has ever stricter targets for recycling and waste reduction, many member states including Ireland are way behind schedule.
“It is difficult to establish whether certain member states’ struggles in meeting the targets are due to the number and/or ambition of the targets, a lack of effective action by member states, or possibly a combination of both”, the auditors say.
But the ECA recommends that the European Commission should monitor progress more carefully, take action against member states if targets are not going to be met and motivate moves towards the circular economy.