<< Back to all Press Releases
2009 waste reduction puts Ireland on track for EU Waste Diversion targets - Greenstar
Dublin – 13th May 2010
- Further falls in total waste volumes likely in 2010
- Scale of possible non compliance fines previously overstated
- Greenstar continues investment in recovery and recycling infrastructure
The total volume of waste in the Irish market fell by over 20% in 2009 and the downward trend appears to have continued in the first quarter of 2010 with waste levels now even lower than in 2009 according to Greenstar, Ireland's leading waste management company.
In 2008 the EPA advised that to meet Ireland's diversion targets for 2010, and thus avoid EU imposed fines, we must divert 280,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste from our landfills. Greenstar believe that we will exceed this target level by diverting over 330,000 tonnes. This reduction is achieved as a result of a decrease in the total arising as noted above, together with increased investment in recycling infrastructure, which means that Ireland will meet the 2010 target for diversion of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill. These factors are augmented by the brown bin roll-out in many regions across the country. This will ensure that Ireland is set not to incur any EU fines for non compliance with the Landfill Directive as previously feared.
The judgement is based on an extrapolation of the throughput of all Greenstar facilities. Greenstar Chief Executive Neil Parkinson said, "While we recognise that a review of our own operations does not cover the entire industry, Greenstar, as Ireland's largest recycling and waste management company, handling circa 1M tonnes annually, is a fair representative sample and a good indicator of wider market trends. We have seen a reduction of over 15% in the volume of the biodegradable waste fraction which is the prime target of the Landfill Directive. We are now confident that Ireland will comply with the Landfill Diversion targets for waste handling that apply in 2010".
Greenstar is today (13th May, 2010) also publishing a paper commissioned from DKM Economic Consultants which sets out the cost to Ireland if it did miss its diversion targets. DKM estimates that the fines could range from an annual penalty of just €687,660 to a maximum €46m and not the hundreds of millions that have been previously estimated in some media reports. This estimate supports a November 2008 report* commissioned by the Department of Environment and prepared by a University College Dublin based company, AP EnvEcon, which estimated the fines at €20- 30m per annum should the targets be missed.
Mr Parkinson stressed "A key factor in our confidence that the EU targets will be met is the extent of new recycling and recovery infrastructure being invested in by the waste industry which will divert even more waste from landfill. Greenstar alone is investing in two new plants in 2010 which, in a full year, will provide 25% of the bio-diversion shortfall requirement identified by the EPA in 2008. A new MBT plant is currently being installed in its facility in Cork which will have a processing capacity of 100,000 tonnes".
Greenstar has also confirmed that it is investing in a new 80,000 tonne facility at its Millennium Park, Dublin facility which will manufacture Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), a fossil fuel substitute, for both the Irish and export markets. Both of these plants will come on stream in Mid 2010 and will add significantly to further diversion from landfill.
Greenstar is not the only company investing in advanced recycling infrastructure. The company surmises that collectively the Waste Industry will have installed more than 700,000 tonnes of additional ‘advanced waste recovery' capacity since 2008. Most of this capacity will be operational by the end of 2010 and will make a significant contribution to achieving not only the 2010 target but also the higher landfill diversion target set for 2013.
Neil Parkinson, CEO of Greenstar, commented: "Profits are down due to the economic downturn but the industry is still investing in infrastructure to increase recycling efficiencies and maximise the recovery potential from waste streams. Every cloud has a silver lining and the combination of these factors means that Ireland is now set to meet the EU targets and avoid fines from Europe."
"The European penalties are no longer the big economic threat that they once were. Firstly, it now looks highly likely that we will meet or surpass the EU targets and therefore we will not have to pay any fines in the foreseeable future and secondly, the latest calculation by economists of the potential fines, should we by some chance miss the targets, are considerably less than what was previously reported. The additional recycling and recovery capacity that Greenstar and other private sector companies are investing in and installing will further secure the achievement of meeting the current year target and make a significant contribution to achieving future targets."
Download a Paper on EU Fines by DKM Economic Consultants
|
