3. The 3Ps framework for a transition to a circular economy: People, policies and places
This chapter analyses the potential of the circular economy in Ireland based on the OECD 3Ps conceptual framework – people, policies and places – previously applied to other policy domains including urban water management. The framework seeks to understand the enablers of the circular economy in cities, regions and countries, whereby: People are at the centre of a cultural shift towards different production and consumption pathways, and new business and governance models; a holistic and systemic approach allows for transcending sectoral Policies; and a functional approach goes beyond administrative boundaries to close, narrow and slow loops at the right scale (Places).
The 3Ps, developed as a framework to strengthen co-ordination across people, policies and places for urban water governance (OECD, 2016[1]), also provides a conceptual framework to understand the enablers of the circular economy in cities, regions and countries.
According to the OECD synthesis report on the circular economy in cities and regions (2020[2]):
People are at the centre of a cultural shift towards new business and governance models within a circular economy, which is a shared responsibility across levels of government and stakeholders. For example, businesses determine the shift towards new business models (e.g. using secondary materials, recycling, sharing models, etc.), knowledge institutions contribute to boosting innovation and research, and non-profit organisations drive bottom-up initiatives in a wide range of sectors, such as food and the built environment, to raise awareness and build capacities.
Policies should be coherent with one another, as a circular economy requires a holistic and systemic approach whereby somebody’s waste can be somebody else’s resource. As such, the circular economy provides the opportunity to foster complementarities across policies (e.g. environment, regional development, agriculture and industry).
In terms of Places, adopting a functional approach, which considers material flows across urban and rural areas, where inputs and outputs are produced and consumed, is important for resource management and economic development, as these flows go beyond the administrative boundaries of government departments, regional and local administrations (OECD, 2020[2]).
The transition towards a circular economy requires the participation and contribution of a wide range of stakeholders such as businesses, social enterprises, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), universities and knowledge institutions, the design community and citizens, among others. Different stakeholder groups have different interests and objectives in moving towards the circular economy. It is therefore essential to motivate and facilitate co-operation among stakeholders towards common aims, provide incentives and framework conditions to build synergies at the most effective level of government, and minimise negative outcomes for society.
Social enterprises
Social enterprises in Ireland contribute to product reuse and repair, sustainable manufacturing activities, but access to finance is a major concern. According to the most recent available data, Ireland is home to 1 400 social enterprises, employing 25 000 people and generating a total income of around EUR 1.4 billion (Forfás, 2013[3]). Irish social enterprises contribute to the circular economy in different ways, for instance by: i) connecting charity shops or repair businesses to consumers through online platforms (e.g. Thriftify and repairmystuff.ie); ii) promoting the reuse and sharing of items (e.g. Cloth Nappy Library Ireland); and iii) collecting and recycling objects to avoid them going to landfill (e.g. Bounce Back Recycling and Recycle IT), assisting 100 000 Irish households annually, as well as community groups and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and in raising awareness (Recycle IT, 2021[4]). The relevance of the social economy in the circular transition is also acknowledged by the European Union (EU) Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), which recognises the opportunities for job creation in circular economy-related activities (EC, 2020[5]).
The Community Resources Network Ireland (CRNI) is the all-island representative body for community-based reuse, recycling and waste prevention organisations funded by the National Waste Prevention Programme (NWPP) of the EPA (CRNI, 2021[6]). With 75% of members being social enterprises, the CRNI supports members through a range of services to expand the activities of reuse and repair organisations including networking, funding support, training and promotion among others. The Rediscovery Centre’s Circular Economy Academy also provides business support services for social enterprises and community organisations, and is home to four inhouse circular economy social enterprises:
Rediscover Furniture, providing training opportunities for bringing old furniture to new life.
Rediscover Fashion, producing redesigned and repurposed clothing, accessories and homeware ranges.
Rediscover Paint, collecting paint from recycling centres and recycling it to create new colours.
Rediscover Cycling, dedicated to building and reconditioning bicycles, and to providing training and employment opportunities.
However, Irish social enterprises generally have issues related to financial sustainability and access to credit. Despite having commercially viable proposals, some social enterprises struggle to meet conventional risk criteria applied by banks for loans, beyond micro credit provided by the Social Finance Foundation, the Tallaght Trust Fund and the County and City Enterprise Boards (Forfás, 2013[3]). Social enterprises can seek Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) funding via the Circular Economy Innovation Grant Scheme (CEIGS), which provided EUR 490 000 in grants in 2021, for their circular economy projects. Although it supports circular projects and businesses broadly, the CEIGS is particularly interested in supporting social enterprises and voluntary and community-based organisations (see sub-section on economy and finance in Chapter 2).
Businesses
A number of multinational companies and SMEs in Ireland are starting to apply circular economy principles to their operations, driven by increasing consumer and shareholder demand for sustainability, and a desire to increase supply chain resilience. Irish companies introducing circularity in their business models generally begin by reducing waste (including packaging materials in their supply chain) and implementing energy efficiency measures, with a view to reducing their costs and carbon footprint. Retailers are increasingly introducing take-back schemes and offering repair services following consumer demand. New businesses are also launching with circular business models, such as GoCar, a car-sharing company that seeks to provide an alternative to owning a private vehicle (GoCar, 2022[7]).
Multinationals have more resources to implement circularity initiatives and disseminate them, but the circular economy is a core part of certain Irish SMEs. Large multinational corporations operating in Ireland are testing inhouse deposit return schemes (e.g. Lidl), recycling textiles (e.g. H&M) and working with NGOs to enhance circularity in supply chains (e.g. Burberry and Oxfam). Irish SMEs using circular processes include cement manufacturers represented by Cement Manufacturers Ireland that combine energy recovery from municipal solid waste and recycling of the inorganic components of solid recovered fuels inside the cement kilns into their final cement product (see the sub-section below on the built environment).
Industry-wide initiatives supporting companies in their circular transition, such as CIRCULÉIRE, are essential but in short supply beyond the manufacturing sector. CIRCULÉIRE, the national platform for circular manufacturing in Ireland (see Chapter 2), supports manufacturing companies to deliver circular business models within their company and supply chain. Companies can implement repair activities to rectify faults and keep products in use for longer or refurbish a product to make it fit for use again. Other business models include product-service-systems, peer-to-peer or business to consumer (B2C) sharing of business equipment, disassembly, restoration, replacement, as well as and repair activities.
Challenges in scaling up circular initiatives and fully transitioning towards circular business models remain for businesses large and small. Business representatives interviewed during the OECD virtual mission to Ireland in October 2020 identified operational, informational and legislative barriers to the circular economy transition in the private sector. First, operational changes to increase circularity in value chains can be challenging for companies to implement: larger companies struggle to influence supply chains due to their global nature, while smaller companies do not always have the financial and human resources required to shift towards circular business processes, models or technologies. The limited capacity and time of SMEs can also be an obstacle preventing them from applying for grants and funding. Regarding information, the lack of relevant and timely data on the circular economy and its contribution to sustainability and notably carbon emission reductions can compromise the interest of larger companies to opt for more circularity. Smaller companies generally have more limited awareness of the stakes and benefits of transitioning to circular business models than larger corporations. Finally, the Irish legislative and fiscal framework is, at best, not conducive to circular business and, at worst, incentivises linear business models. Regulation and standards are struggling to keep up with the pace of innovation, which hinders the certainty needed to make the business case for circular materials and products. Additionally, public procurement still tends to favour projects with the lowest initial investment cost rather than considering life-cycle costs, which can be unfavourable to circular projects.
Knowledge institutions
Research in Ireland is prioritised through Research Prioritisation, introduced in 2012, which aims to align the bulk of competitively awarded public investment in research with 14 priority areas (DETE, 2018[8]). Under Innovation 2020, Ireland’s overarching research strategy, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) leads Research Prioritisation to direct investment towards strategic areas of commercial opportunity (DETE, 2015[9]). However, the circular economy is not identified as a standalone priority within the most recent iteration of Research Prioritisation (2018-2023) but as a means of achieving the sub-priority of “Sustainable living” under the priority “Energy, climate action and sustainability”. Sustainable Living is linked to United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 on “Sustainable production and consumption” and aims to realise the opportunities in enterprise sectors including the circular economy, new emerging markets in waste, water and infrastructure management, and the non-food elements of the bioeconomy (e.g. biorefining). In turn, the circular economy is expected to emerge from research addressing as part of sub-priority “Manufacturing and novel materials” under the “Manufacturing and materials” priority theme.
Several knowledge institutions and universities in Ireland are actively contributing to the circular transition by carrying out research to prove the feasibility of circular economy solutions and providing education programmes and training material. For instance:
Trinity College Dublin and Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) have jointly identified promising entrepreneurial and business activities related to the circular economy, with a view to supporting the technology upgrade required for commercialisation.
The Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork (UCC) is an active institution in circular economy research. With over 400 researchers, the centre has developed more than 30 circular economy projects in fields including water, food, green gas, materials reuse, chemicals, return schemes and e-waste (UCC, 2021[10]).
The University of Limerick manages education projects for enhancing circular economy skills in SMEs. The university is involved in the EU-funded Erasmus+ project Circular Design: Learning for Innovative Design for Sustainability to develop skills across students and practitioners (Circular Design, 2021[11]). Additionally, having contributed to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports on (waste from) electrical and electronic equipment (EEE/WEEE), the university has developed a strong competency in this area. It also hosted the Product Lifetimes and the Environment (PLATE) Conference on product lifetimes and the environment in May 2021 (PLATE, 2021[12]).
The Clean Technology Centre (CTC) established in Munster Technological University in 1992 has informed national policies and initiatives, provided businesses with consultancy services and supported local authorities in improving resource efficiency and transitioning to the circular economy (CTC, 2021[13]). Munster Technological University offers an accredited Certificate in Circular Economy. The Springboard+ distance-learning programme aims at developing skills within businesses to contribute to the development of a sustainable circular economy, covering the technological, environmental, economic and social aspects.
The Department of Building and Civil Engineering in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) has a dedicated Build360 research group that focuses on the circular built environment. This group has led several EPA projects on construction and demolition waste management, resource efficiency and the circular economy over the past 20 years. The GMIT offers a postgraduate one-year diploma and an online master of science in circular economy leadership for the built environment (GMIT, 2021[14]). With EPA funding, GMIT has partnered with Regional Waste Management Planning Offices (RWMPOs) to organise training for local authority staff on the circular built environment and construction and demolition waste.
The main barriers faced by knowledge institutions and universities are related to the fragmentation of research activities, the lack of collaboration between policy makers and academia, and difficulties in applying for research and innovation grants. First, because the circular economy is a new and interdisciplinary field of interest for many research departments, obtaining timely and precise information on previous, current and future research projects on the circular economy is challenging. There are also missing links between academia and policy makers, which are needed to ensure that research results are relevant and practical, and that they adequately feed into policy making. Finally, at the operational level, many universities share difficulties in applying to national and international research and innovation grants, as this often requires significant human resources and capacity.
The following section presents an overview of the three economic sectors with the highest potential for Ireland’s transition to a circular economy – waste, the built environment and food systems – based on the OECD virtual missions to Ireland and the socio-economic trends of the country (see Chapter 1).
The circular economy is relevant to all economic sectors but some have higher potential than others. Making a sector circular implies rethinking value chains and production and consumption processes. Circularity implies that waste or by-products from one production process can be used as input for another, within and across sectors. The circular economy aims to: make products last longer through better design; create goods using secondary and reusable materials and renewable energy, while reducing atmospheric emissions; produce and distribute products locally and consume them consciously and sustainably; and transform waste into resources (OECD, 2020[2]).
The identification of priority sectors for action (see Box 3.1) is often the result of metabolism analyses that identify material flows, quantity, imports and exports. While the DECC has not yet carried out a metabolism analysis,1 the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy (WAPCE) and the Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy (hereafter “the Strategy”) identify several priority sectors for establishing sectoral roadmaps, including the built environment (construction) and agri-food, as well as transport, procurement and consumer goods. The sectors analysed in this chapter are by no means exhaustive, as many other sectors can contribute to the circular economy transition in Ireland, but it provides an overview of sectors and activities with high potential. This is key to signal existing interest from “do-ers” to transition from a linear to a circular economy, in a shared responsibility across levels of government, to develop coherent circular economy policies.
Priority areas can be established by sector or can be transversal in nature, for example:
Colombia has six lines of action in its 2019 National Strategy for the Circular Economy based on metabolism analyses: i) flow of industrial materials and mass consumption products; ii) flow of packaging materials; iii) flow of biomass; iv) energy sources and flows; v) flow of water; and vi) flow of construction materials.
The Circular Economy in the Netherlands by 2050 programme is based on five priorities: biomass and food; plastics; manufacturing industry; construction sector and consumer goods.
For the city of Paris, the 1st roadmap adopted in 2017 encompasses 15 actions for: planning and construction; reduction, reuse, repair; support for actors; public procurement and responsible consumption. The 2nd roadmap was adopted in November 2018. This new roadmap defined 15 actions organised into 5 new themes: exemplary administration; culture; events; sustainable consumption and education.
The Amsterdam Circular 2020-2025 focuses on three value chains to shape the circular economy actions in the city: food and organic waste streams; consumer goods; and the built environment.
The city of Rotterdam, Netherlands, launched the Rotterdam Circularity Programme 2019-2023, focusing on four streams: agro-food and green streams; construction; consumer products (e.g. single-use plastics) and healthcare.
Source: OECD (2020[2]), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions: Synthesis Report, https://doi.org/10.1787/10ac6ae4-en.
Waste and resources management
The circular economy in the waste sector requires both upstream and downstream action to prevent waste generation and transform waste into resources. A circular waste management system requires, first and foremost: the prevention of waste; the ability to prepare products for reuse; the ability to recycle materials that cannot be reused; and, as a last resort, recovering and landfilling waste. Waste can be prevented by ensuring that products are made to last and that they can be prepared for reuse, repaired or recycled easily. This can be done by mandating ecodesign at all stages of product life-cycles and by incentivising reuse and repair over the purchase of new products. In a circular system, the use of secondary materials for the production of goods should be incentivised and such materials should satisfy a significant percentage of material demand. A circular waste system also requires the development and commercialisation of technology to identify, sort and deliver high-quality raw material, where data connect products with waste handling (OECD, 2020[2]).
The first step towards circular waste management is to prevent waste generation by keeping resources in use for as long as possible. This starts with ensuring that products are built to last by promoting or mandating ecodesign across the entire product life cycle. The only current legislation related to ecodesign in Ireland is the EU Ecodesign Directive on energy-related products (Directive 2009/125/EC). The directive aims to improve the energy efficiency of energy-related products on the market by setting energy efficiency standards, incentivising the design of more energy-efficient products and allowing consumers to compare the performance of different products. The directive is currently limited to energy-related products and does not cover other parts of the life cycle process (e.g. production) or product dimensions (i.e. materials used for production). However, the European Commission’s (EC) forthcoming Sustainable Product Initiative will revise the Ecodesign Directive and propose additional legislative measures to make products more durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable, and energy-efficient (EC, 2022[15]). The EC is also planning other initiatives to improve the reparability and extend the useful life of products, including legislation on the right to repair and design requirements for electronics, among others (European Parliament, 2022[16]).
Ireland’s National Waste Prevention Programme (NWPP) supports national-level strategic programmes to prevent waste. As part of the WAPCE, the EPA-led and DECC-funded NWPP has become Ireland’s Circular Economy Programme (2021-2027), shifting the focus from waste prevention to a more holistic view of the circular economy. It delivers waste prevention and circular economy programmes through partnerships across a wide range of stakeholders, such as businesses, local authorities, knowledge institutions and local communities, and provides information and tools to citizens and policy makers to prevent waste in food, construction and plastics, amongst others. Many government-led circular economy initiatives are part of the NWPP (see Chapter 2). The National Waste Prevention Committee provides strategic and technical oversight for the implementation of the programme. The committee includes members from governmental, non-governmental, business and sectoral interest groups.
Extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes also play an important role in designing out waste. These collective schemes make producers financially or organisationally responsible for collecting or taking back used goods, and for sorting and treating for their eventual recycling. Existing EPR schemes in Ireland cover WEEE, batteries, packaging, end-of-life vehicles, tyres and farm plastics. Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) such as Repak also raise awareness and build capacity among members and citizens, in this instance, on making packaging more recyclable and reducing packaging waste. It does so through a range of initiatives, such as a Plastic Packaging Recycling Strategy 2018-2030, a Plastic Pledge for members, a packaging design guide for recycling and a call to action to citizens to reduce, reuse and recycle (Team Green) (Repak, 2022[17]). The Single-use Plastics Directive (2019/904/EC), which targets items that account for 70% of EU marine litter, has been transposed into Irish law and extends EPR schemes to tobacco products, wet wipes, balloons and fishing gear containing plastic. It also bans many single-use items2 (Box 3.2). The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) aims to eliminate beach litter from these items by 2023. The DECC aims to end self-compliance as an option under EPR, enabling mandatory EPR for all packaging producers before the 2024 EU deadline. Packaging producers will be liable to pay eco-modulated fees, meaning that composite packaging and over-packaging will become significantly more expensive than recyclable packaging, and fees are set to cover at least 80% of the costs associated with waste management of the amount of packaging they place on the market. This should incentivise manufacturers to use packaging that is easier to recycle, which should in turn drive an increase in recycling rates.
Other measures targeted towards consumers in the WAPCE should also help to limit waste generation, particularly from single-use plastics. Plastics account for 20% of waste in household residual and recycling bins and is a growing waste stream (EPA, 2020[18]). As part of the Single-use Plastics Directive, the WAPCE foresees the implementation of deposit return schemes (DRS) for aluminium cans and plastic bottles, in collaboration with the food and drink industries, retailers, waste collectors3 and treatment facilities, as well as counterparts in Northern Ireland. The WAPCE also highlights the need to raise awareness on the benefits of reusable containers and anticipates working with retailers to encourage the provision of refill options. The “latte levy” (see sub-section on economy and finance in Chapter 2), a ban on single-use cups and offering discounts to customers using reusable ones, should also limit waste generated by single-use cups. Similar measures including levies, bans and working with relevant stakeholders such as industry associations are also foreseen for cold drinks and food containers. In general, the WAPCE will introduce different measures for different waste streams, including targets (e.g. a 65% collection target for WEEE), stakeholder engagement (e.g. the creation of a textile action group to increase circularity in textiles), bans (e.g. of bulky household waste from landfill) and levies (e.g. on “fast fashion”).
Plastic waste has been growing rapidly in Europe over the past 50 years. Since the 1960s, the production of plastics worldwide increased 20-fold, reaching 322 million tonnes in 2015, and is expected to double by 2040. A total of 25.8 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced in Europe annually, while less than 30% is collected for recycling.
Demand for recycled plastics accounted for only around 6% of plastics demand in 2018. Globally, plastics production and the incineration of plastic waste give rise to approximately 400 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, adopted by the European Commission in 2018, aims to achieve a recycling rate of 55% for plastic packaging waste by 2030. The strategy includes the following measures: to improve the economics and quality of plastics recycling; curb plastic waste and littering; drive investment and innovation for circular solutions by promoting investment and innovation in the value chain; and harness global action through co-operation and trade, among others.
In May 2018, the EC proposed new EU-wide rules to target the single-use plastic products most often found on Europe’s beaches and seas: cotton buds; cutlery, plates, straws and stirrers; sticks for balloons and balloons; food containers; cups for beverages; beverage containers; cigarette butts; bags; crisp packets/sweet wrappers; and wet wipes and sanitary items.
Source: OECD (2020[2]), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions: Synthesis Report, https://doi.org/10.1787/10ac6ae4-en.
Discarded products that can be reused should be collected and prepared for reuse or remanufacturing. Several small-scale reuse businesses and social enterprises exist in Ireland, including the Rediscovery Centre and ReCreate Ireland, which reuses unwanted materials as art and educational supplies (ReCreate Ireland, 2021[19]). The DECC will introduce a national reuse target and plans to advocate for the development and implementation of targets for reuse at the EU level, while the EPA’s forthcoming Circular Economy Programme will expand support for reuse, repair and sharing already provided to some extent by the NWPP. Currently, the only activity formally registered as “preparation for reuse”4 is the refurbishment and sale of WEEE that has been taken back through EPR schemes, but there are no companies in Ireland registered for preparation for reuse. This results in the recycling, rather than reuse, of all of the WEEE collected via take-back schemes or at civic amenity sites.
Recycling should be favoured over recovery or landfill for waste that cannot be prevented, repaired or reused. However, recycling rates in Ireland have plateaued over the past decade (see Chapter 1) due to a range of factors, including the contamination of waste streams, insufficient participation in waste collection services, and differences in waste collection practices across different geographical areas and collection service operators (EPA, 2020[20]; DECC, 2020[21]). To tackle the issue of illegal dumping, local authorities have introduced waste by-laws mandating all households, apartments and commercial premises to subscribe to an authorised waste collection service or to prove alternative means they use to dispose of their waste. Around 16% of households do not avail of a collection service; of those 16%, 4% use a pre-paid bag collection service, 8% take it to a recycling centre and 1% take it to their workplace (CSO, 2016 in EPA (2020[20])). However, not all waste reception facilities (e.g. civic amenity sites and bring banks) allow for the separation of residual from recycling and organic waste. Finally, waste collection service operators are not obliged to provide three separate bins for waste collection (residual, recyclable and organic) in agglomerations of under 500 inhabitants. Glass and textiles are collected at bring banks.
Waste separation is a priority of the WAPCE. Bin colours are foreseen to be standardised nationwide under the WAPCE and the provision of an organic waste bin will be mandated as part of a waste collection service for all households; 68% of households availing of a collection service already had one in 2020.5 The WAPCE highlights the urgency of enforcing correct separation to reduce contamination and increase recycling, particularly for commercial waste: the DECC plans to raise awareness via a campaign, enforcement actions requiring separate bins and incentivised charging in this sector. The WAPCE also anticipates a review of the incentivised charging regime and introducing penalties for those failing to separate waste correctly. Waste collectors currently tend to charge customers per bin lift, by weight or with other waste charging structures but they cannot charge a flat rate since 2018 (DECC, 2021[22]). Weight-based charging is not yet mandatory but could easily be rolled out for household waste given that every household bin in Ireland is already weighed, recorded and reported via radio-frequency identification chips. The DECC also encourages soft regulation such as the rollout and adoption of MyWaste.ie package labelling, which informs consumers whether or not an item of packaging can be recycled or not, or to check on mywaste.ie. On the collection side, waste collection service operators will be required to achieve municipal waste recycling targets as a condition for waste collection permits, to incentivise the industry to work towards recycling targets in light of the current market structure (Box 3.3). To this end, certain waste companies foresee “waste mining”, i.e. extracting recyclable resources from residual waste, as a lever for increasing recycling rates. However, implementing waste prevention measures both upstream (e.g. enforcing ecodesign) and downstream (e.g. setting minimum recyclate contents in packaging) is needed to ensure that the burden of these targets does not disproportionately fall on waste collection service operators and that waste prevention and the circular economy is a shared responsibility across the government, households, businesses and the waste management industry.
End-of-waste and by-product regulatory processes also have a particularly important role to play in keeping resources in use, particularly in the construction sector, as recognised by the WAPCE. Both processes fall under the 2008 EU Waste Framework Directive. Under the directive’s by-product provision, businesses deciding that a substance produced by them is a by-product rather than waste notify the EPA, which takes the final decision (EPA, 2020[20]). End-of-waste processes enable material recovered or recycled from waste to cease to be considered as waste. Businesses wishing to do so must submit an application to the EPA, which makes case-by-case decisions in the absence of EU-level criteria.6 However, businesses going through these notification and application processes with the EPA face considerable delays, which does not provide an incentive for keeping resources in use. These delays are recognised by the WAPCE, which anticipates a series of measures to compress them. These measures notably include considering delegating responsibilities for assessing application and notifications to local authorities and charging fees. The EPA has published draft guidance on by-product notifications and end-of-waste applications to help speed up the process (EPA, 2021[23]; 2021[24]).
Municipal waste management in Ireland has undergone significant change since the 1996 Waste Management Act, which provides the legal basis for waste management in the country. Since the act’s entry into force, private companies have been allowed to compete with local authorities in the waste market and have gradually become the main providers of waste collection and treatment services in Ireland. As such, the role of local authorities has shifted from the direct provision of waste collection and treatment services to the development and enforcement of waste policies and planning.
A wide range of stakeholders is involved in the Irish waste sector. The DECC is responsible for primary and secondary waste legislation, including the transposition of EU waste legislation into Irish law, and ultimately defines the country’s legal framework for waste management. Regional Waste Management Planning Offices (RWMPOs) are responsible for waste planning and implementation via five- to six-year waste management plans. Waste operators require permits from the National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO) at Offaly County Council. The EPA is responsible for: regulation and compliance; collecting, monitoring and disseminating data, information and knowledge; and enforcing waste regulation. It is also the licensing authority for waste-related activities including landfills, transfer stations, hazardous waste disposal, ship recycling and any waste disposal and recovery activities above a certain threshold depending on the waste category, while local authorities are responsible for licensing facilities below the determined threshold. Local authorities are also responsible for the enforcement of waste collection permits, producer responsibility initiatives and litter. Around 150 companies are involved in non-hazardous waste management in Ireland, of which around 40 are involved in the collection of household and commercial waste. With 41 member companies accounting for 80% of household waste collected, the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA) is the representative body for private sector waste management companies in Ireland. Certain organisations also contribute to the recycling of specific waste streams, such as the Irish Farm Film Producers Group CLG (IFFPG), an approved non-profit farm plastics recycling compliance scheme that recycles up to 30 000 tonnes of farm plastics yearly and is primarily funded by a recycling levy paid by members (i.e. companies selling farm film products).
Municipal waste collection in OECD countries tends to follow one of the three following approaches:
Competitive tendering, where waste collection and transport services for one (or more) municipal areas may be contracted to commercial providers. This approach is common in OECD countries, including Colombia, Estonia and Poland.
In-house service delivery, where municipal governments directly deliver waste management services (e.g. Israel) or delegate collection, transport and treatment to a company owned by the municipality or jointly owned by many municipalities through an exclusive contract (e.g. some municipalities in Norway).
Side-by-side collection, where individual households are responsible for arranging the collection and transport of their waste, resulting in direct contracting between households and waste collectors so that multiple companies may be operating “side by side” in the same municipality. This approach was in place in Poland until 2013 and is currently in place in Ireland.
Ireland’s side-by-side collection system is increasingly rare among OECD countries. It was the norm in Poland until 2011, where municipalities were not directly responsible for household waste collection. However, the presence of multiple waste collection companies led to increased traffic, air and noise pollution, and illegal dumping was made relatively easy due to the weak role of municipalities and the possibility of free-riding by households. Since 2011, Polish municipalities have been responsible for competitive tendering of municipal waste collection services and early results suggested that service coverage and the separate collection of waste had increased.
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CPCC) 2018 review of the household waste collection market highlighted that the market was highly concentrated in some areas, giving operators “considerable” market power. The “side-by-side” system was expected to favour competition, thus leading to positive outcomes for households. However, the report’s analysis suggests that competition levels at the local authority level are in fact weak, and potentially even more so at the route level, as waste collectors operating within one local authority may not all serve the same routes. The data highlights that 18-25% of Irish households do not have a choice of operator and that 20 operators serve 90% of households with a collection service. The report further highlights that competition may not lead to the most efficient outcomes in the waste collection market, which tends to be characterised by economies of scale, high fixed costs and large cost advantage for a single operator. As such, it may be more economically efficient for one operator to supply the market.
The WAPCE’s Waste Advisory Group concluded that the professionalisation of the sector had been a key driver of better overall performance and that the current market structure had some advantages in terms of value for money and flexibility, but that it offered relatively lower control for regulators regarding the achievement of guaranteed performance levels. Despite recognising improvements (e.g. the introduction of Customer Charters), the Waste Advisory Group also highlighted the sometimes-weak position of consumers due to the absence of a dedicated, statutory complaints procedure and the difficulty in comparing pricing structures. As a result, the WAPCE seeks to improve consumer protection and customer service by monitoring the market, establishing a formal complaints procedure, strengthening and enforcing customer service charters and standardising the provision of clear pricing plans, in line with other Irish utilities.
Source: OECD virtual mission to Ireland, 10-12 March 2020; OECD virtual mission to Ireland, 6-9 July 2021; DECC (2020[21]), Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/4221c-waste-action-plan-for-a-circular-economy/ (accessed on 19 July 2021); OECD (2019[25]), Waste Management and the Circular Economy in Selected OECD Countries: Evidence from Environmental Performance Reviews, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264309395-en; CCPC (2018[26]), The Operation of the Household Waste Collection Market, https://www.ccpc.ie/business/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/10/The-Operation-of-the-Household-Waste-Collection-Market.pdf (accessed on 3 December 2021).
The WAPCE is a step in the right direction towards a more circular waste sector in Ireland but regulatory, organisational, financial and data-related challenges remain. The effective and coherent implementation of WAPCE measures into Irish law will largely depend on the 2021 Circular Economy Bill, which will amend the Waste Management Act 1996 among others. Current delays in regulatory processes for end-of-waste and by-products do not favour the prevention, recovery and recycling of materials. Additionally, licensing delays for waste treatment and recycling capacity are significant, disincentivising private investment. On the other hand, roles and responsibilities in Irish waste management are fragmented, leading to regulatory gaps and a lack of public sector oversight and control over private waste collection and treatment. Virgin materials (especially plastics) are often significantly cheaper than secondary and recycled materials, creating an unbalanced playing field that favours linear rather than circular materials, products and value chains. Finally, beyond the EPA’s reporting of municipal solid waste (MSW), data and information on total (not just municipal) waste streams are poorly disseminated at the national level. Regionally and locally disaggregated data on municipal waste is scarce and the time-lapse for waste data publication does not allow real-time, data-driven policy making. These gaps are further discussed in Chapter 3.
Built environment
The built environment consists of buildings as well as physical infrastructures such as roads and dams. Demographic and economic growth drove a strong and sustained increase in construction activity7 in Ireland between 2013 and 2019 which, in turn, contributed to increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. During that period, new constructions in Ireland grew eight times faster than the EU27 average on a year-on-year basis. In 2018, residential and commercial buildings accounted for 15% of GHG emissions in Ireland and construction waste accounted for 15% of total waste (Eurostat, 2021[27]). However, the pandemic led to a sharper drop in construction in Ireland than in the rest of the EU: construction in Ireland dropped by 9.3% in 2020, compared to 5% in the EU (Eurostat, 2021[28]).
The National Development Plan, which foresees the construction of 30 000 new homes annually until 2040, includes incentives to address the existing vacant stock of buildings, such as a new tax to activate vacant land for residential purposes (DPER, 2019[29]). One of the four pathways established by Housing for All, Ireland’s new housing plan, seeks to address vacancy and the efficient use of existing stock (DHLGH, 2021[30]). The EUR 4.5 billion investment in water infrastructure expected for the construction of new homes by 2025 is another opportunity to embed circularity in Ireland’s built environment, improving resource efficiency across the life cycle of new builds.
The built environment is included in several cross-sectoral documents and plans in Ireland, notably in green public procurement (GPP) and the Climate Action Plan (CAP). To minimise the negative impacts of the design, construction and management of office buildings in Ireland, Ireland has committed to implementing GPP in all tenders using public funds by 2023, including in the built environment. GPP criteria for the built environment address the key phases of the construction life cycle: i) preliminary conditions for the design and performance of buildings; ii) construction and maintenance; iii) operation; and iv) demolition. The EPA’s Green Procurement Guidance for the Public Sector provides guidance and a toolkit for public procurers to include green criteria in key sectors for the circular economy, including office buildings (EPA, 2021[31]). Moreover, Ireland’s CAP sets out specific actions and minimum requirements in terms of energy use in buildings, such as support schemes for renewable heating, the removal of fossil-fuel heating systems and the promotion of energy labels.
The Irish building sector is exploring how to shift towards a more resource-efficient built environment as a means of contributing to the European Green Deal and carbon neutrality by 2050. The Irish Green Building Council8 (IGBC) and nine European counterparts9 are part of the #BuildingLife initiative led by the World Green Building Council, which seeks to galvanise climate action in the built environment through national and regional decarbonisation roadmaps, which should be made public in 2022 (World Green Building Council, 2021[32]). The roadmaps include private and public sector action deemed necessary by the industry to tackle the life cycle impact of buildings and reduce virgin material use (IGBC, 2021[33]). The EC’s level(s) assessment and reporting framework, launched in 2018, acts as a common language to support the sustainable performance of buildings. This tool fosters a life cycle approach to buildings and delivers a robust framework to measure and support improvement from design to end of life for both residential and office buildings.
Several capacity-building initiatives to drive circularity in the built environment are in place. Through its Learning Hub, the IGBC shares information in the form of webinars and reading material on sustainability in the built environment, including circular economy, with its members (IGBC, 2021[34]). Knowledge institutions and universities also play an essential role in building the skills and capacities that construction professionals require to drive circularity in the built environment, notably the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) (see the sub-section on knowledge institutions above).
Existing tools and guidance can also foster circularity in construction. Under the NWPP, the EPA has updated guidelines for the preparation of Resource and Waste Management Plans for construction and demolition projects (EPA, 2021[35]), which the EPA currently recommends planning authorities mandate for all projects. The IGBC’s Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), which provide verified information on the environmental life cycle impact of construction products, allow manufacturers of construction products to share information on the environmental impacts of their products on the EPD platform, in compliance with Ireland’s product regulations (IGBC, 2021[36]). Funding from Enterprise Ireland, the government agency responsible for the development of Irish businesses in international markets, is available to assist companies seeking this declaration.
The circular way of building consists of rethinking upstream and downstream processes to minimise waste production and maximise resource use. It also implies new forms of collaboration among designers, constructors, contractors, real estate investors, suppliers of low- and high-tech building materials and owners, while looking at the life cycle from construction to end of life. Key phases can be identified as follows: planning, design, construction, operation and end of current life (OECD, 2020[2]).
Planning in a circular way implies considering the entire life cycle of the asset, including alternative use through repurposing and reassembly. The National Planning Framework (NPF), Ireland’s highest-level statutory land use plan, places a new policy emphasis on renewing and developing existing settlements rather than continuing expansion and sprawl. In addition, the 2020 Programme for Government, Our Shared Future, commits to implementing a Town Centre First policy that aims to regenerate town centres by using existing buildings and unused land for new developments, as well as promoting residential occupancy in rural towns and villages (Department of the Taoiseach, 2020[37]). Increasing the intensity of existing floor space can significantly contribute to decarbonisation in a circular approach to construction, as GHG savings from more intensive floor space use are significantly higher than those from repair, reuse and recycling in G7 countries (International Resource Panel, 2020[38]).
The choice of materials for construction has significant potential for circularity in the built environment. For instance, the three cement manufacturers in Ireland represented by industry body Cement Manufacturers Ireland combine energy recovery from municipal solid waste and recycling of the inorganic components of solid recovered fuels inside cement kilns, also known as co-processing. This diverts waste from landfill, avoids the use of virgin fossil fuels and allows inorganic ash components to feed into the final cement product. Currently, Cement Manufacturers Ireland members use 250 000 tonnes of alternative fuels each year, most of which is Solid Recovered Fuel, which amounts to an average of 36% of fossil fuels in cement production being replaced by alternative fuels each year. In Paris, France, besides meeting all mandatory requirements established by the French High Environmental Quality Standard (NF HQE) Base, a certification for the construction sector, construction projects should achieve at least 40% of the items established in a “circular economy profile” to be considered circular (e.g. inclusion of a waste management plan, use of recycled materials, development of life-analysis calculations, eco-certification of wood, considering deconstruction processes, establishing synergies with local actors in the surrounding areas, among others) (OECD, 2020[2]).
The way in which a building is operated has a direct impact on water and energy efficiency. For example, Google Dublin is a leader for Google European offices with five Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings. The LEED tool evaluates the facility’s environmental impact, water consumption, energy efficiency, materials used, interior environmental quality and innovation (Google, n.d.[39]). Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) is the first national government agency to develop a Circular Economy Plan, with a view to embedding circular principles in its operations. As the state agency responsible for road and public transport infrastructure in Ireland, TII is involved in the consumption and transport of bulk construction materials in Ireland, both through its own procurement and as the author of standards and specifications used in the Irish construction industry. TII has taken a systems-mapping approach to identify actions, including updates to design and materials standards, industry and supply chain engagement and standard circular economy plans for TII projects and programmes. Three circular pilot projects are already underway.
When demolition cannot be avoided, the end life of a building should create a new life for the waste material produced. Three levels of circularity can be identified: i) repurposing existing assets, components and materials with no major transformations and in the same location; ii) reusing existing assets for the same purpose, but in a different location; and iii) reusing components and materials of existing assets, in the same and in a different location. For example, Limerick’s Opera Site project, the biggest urban development project in Limerick, benefitted from a pre-demolition audit for resource assessment to predetermine and quantify onsite materials that could be reused or recycled in the new building and other local projects. Certain components such as old bricks and stone were made available for other construction projects (Limerick 2030, 2018[40]). By-product notifications and end-of-waste applications also play an important role in incentivising waste prevention, the recovery and recycling of as many materials as possible (see previous section).
Four main barriers currently impede the shift towards a circular built environment in Ireland. First, there is limited awareness and knowledge of circular processes, technologies and materials among businesses in the sector. While existing plans and programmes focus on sustainability and resource efficiency, there is little dissemination of knowledge on circular practices in construction. Second, current legislation and regulation do not incentivise circular practices. For instance, under the EU Waste Framework Directive, site managers must notify where waste and by-products go but there is no procedure to notify direct reuse, which creates a challenge for onsite operations staff and ultimately hinders the reuse of materials on construction and demolition sites. As in the waste sector (see previous section), regulatory delays are also an issue: for instance, the length of regulatory approvals to allow for an increased range or quantity of alternative fuels to replace fossil fuels is currently the main barrier to scaling up co-processing in cement kilns. Third, the playing field is tilted in favour of primary construction materials rather than recycled materials, which are often more expensive and less readily available. Moreover, the National Standards Association of Ireland’s accreditation process for secondary and recycled materials can be time-consuming, potentially discouraging the development of innovative and circular construction materials. Furthermore, there is no incentive scheme to support the use of secondary and recycled materials or their better sorting at the construction site, their reuse and recycling in Ireland. As such, circular economy techniques and processes often imply significant additional costs and technical challenges for companies, especially SMEs. Finally, public procurement criteria in the built environment tend to favour proposals with the lowest price and shortest construction period, rather than sustainable and circular proposals and tend to consider only upfront capital costs rather than the operation and maintenance and environmental costs across the entire construction life cycle.
Food systems
Circular food systems are based on regenerative food production and the elimination of food waste (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2021[41]). This implies taking a systemic approach along the value chain from production to processing, distribution and consumption, to close material loops and eliminate waste by transforming it into resources. Along the circular food production cycle, external inputs are reduced; production is adapted to local contexts; negative externalities such as soil depletion and water pollution are avoided, and natural capital is restored. The section below focuses on various components of the food system, from agriculture to food waste, and identifies opportunities for applying circular economy principles.
Policy drivers for the circular economy in agriculture
As one of Ireland’s most significant economic activities but also one the most polluting, agriculture should be a cornerstone of Ireland’s circular transition. The sector accounted for 7% of total employment and 9.5% of merchandise exports in Ireland in 2019 (see Chapter 1), and the country’s 1 448 km of coastline and large territorial seas confer it a natural advantage in the seafood industry. The Irish agricultural sector is characterised by a large number (137 500) of predominantly small family farms covering over 67% of Ireland’s territory (EPA, 2020[20]).
Agriculture is the main source of GHG emissions in Ireland (around one-third), mostly due to the prevalence of beef production, which accounted for 52.7% of Irish farms. Agriculture is also a significant driver of water pollution (see Chapter 1). A number of programmes seek to prevent pollution at its source on the farming, namely:
The Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) aims to reduce water pollution from farms at the source by undertaking farm assessments and advising farmers on what measures to take to address water quality issues (EPA, 2020[20]). It has 20 Teagasc advisors funded by the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and DHLGH, and 10 dairy advisors funded by Dairy Sustainability Ireland. The advisors focus on yards, lands and nutrient management planning. Up to 5 000 farmers within 190 prioritised catchment areas for action will be supported by this programme.
The DAFM’s Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) provides payments to farmers for managing land in a way that is beneficial to nature. This includes tackling climate change, preserving biodiversity, protecting habitats and promoting environmentally-friendly farming. GLAS Plus provides further payments to farmers taking strong environmental action and commitments on farms that contain habitats for endangered birds.
Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme aims to prevent water pollution from agricultural sources and to improve water quality. Programme measures focus on livestock stocking densities and the storage and land spreading of livestock manure. Under enforcing regulations, local authorities and the DAFM (under an agreement with the DHGLH) carry out around 3 500 and 1 600 farm inspections respectively.
Ireland anticipates ambitious GHG emission reductions in the agricultural sector but the adoption of circular and regenerative practices in the sector are absent from sectoral roadmaps. Ireland, along with New Zealand, is the only country to have set a legally binding policy target to mitigate GHG emissions from agriculture in its Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement (OECD, 2021[42]). Ireland’s latest Climate Action Plan (2021) suggests a 22-30% reduction in GHG emissions from agriculture by 2030, from 23 megatonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2) in 2018 to 16-18 MtCO2 in 2030 (DECC, 2021[43]). Key measures foreseen in the 2021 Climate Action Plan relate to increasing farming GHG efficiency and diversifying farm activities through afforestation, forest management and bioenergy (notably biomethane) among others. Ag Climatise, the Teagasc-led10 roadmap, includes the promotion of the development of a sustainable circular bioeconomy as one of the 29 actions for the agri-food sector, which should be done by “addressing issues such as pasture valorisation, food and organic waste and losses, by-product valorisation, nutrient recycling, water recycling and recycling of plastics” (Teagasc, 2021[44]). These roadmaps see the circular economy as a tool to valorise and reduce waste rather than a new model for food production, reflecting the analytical rather than systemic approach taken by stakeholders in defining courses of action towards carbon neutrality.
In addition to reducing the environmental impact of conventional agriculture, the shift to a circular agricultural model would bring economic and climate co-benefits, such as generating new income streams for farmers (e.g. by selling waste to be reused as a resource in another process). As well as reducing the climate impact of farming operations, circular agriculture regenerates soils and improves their health, enhancing the capacity of soils to sequester carbon and act as a carbon sink (EPA, 2020[20]). Improving soil health also reduces the need for external, virgin inputs such as synthetic fertilisers. Some circular practices are already in place or being scaled up in the agricultural sector. For instance, nutrients recovered from sewage sludge can be used as fertiliser on farms, thus contributing to closing nutrient loops; 89% of the 58 630 tonnes of sewage sludge produced by wastewater treatment plants was used as fertiliser and 10% as compost for agriculture in 2019. Ringsend water treatment plant is the first in the country to have a phosphorus recovery facility; phosphorus recovered from sewage sludge can be used on farms to increase soil productivity11 (Irish Water, n.d.[45]).
A number of farming sustainability programmes incorporate resource efficiency as a tool to mitigate environmental damage. For example, the EPA and the Irish Farmers’ Association’s Smart Farming programme, a voluntary resource efficiency programme, works with farmers to improve farm returns while taking action across eight key areas, including one on inputs (e.g. feeds and fertilisers) and waste (SmartFarming, 2021[46]). Origin Green, launched in 2012 and led by Bord Bia, the Irish Food Board, takes a systemic approach by addressing the entire value chain, from farmers to fishers to manufacturers and retailers (Origin Green, 2021[47]). The programme enables Ireland’s food industry to set and achieve measurable sustainability targets that are independently assessed and verified. The audit criteria cover GHGs, biodiversity, water measures, energy efficiency, soil management, socio-economic factors and quality assurance. The programme’s large reach, covering 53 000 of Ireland’s 140 000 farms and 324 food and beverage companies, has allowed the programme to raise awareness around sustainability in the Irish food system.
The agri-food industry is starting to consider the circular economy as a tool to make more efficient use of resources, yet without grasping the potential of a fully circular agricultural sector. Under the auspices of the DAFM, agricultural stakeholders in Ireland draw up ten-year strategic plans defining a common vision for the sector, which is revised every five years. While these strategies are voluntary (i.e. with non-binding targets), they seek to foster buy-in through strong industry participation and co-creation. Growth took centre stage in all past strategies, such as Food Wise 2025, which aimed to increase the value of primary agricultural production by 65% and to increase the value of agri-food exports by 85%. Food Vision 2030 breaks from this tradition by adopting a “food systems approach” that acknowledges the link between food, climate, the environment and health (DAFM, 2021[48]). One of the strategy’s goals is to “enhance the agri-food sector in the circular regenerative economy”, highlighting the sector’s willingness to take certain actions based on circular principles, without considering or understanding the circular economy as a model for food production.
As a strategic priority for the government of Ireland, the bioeconomy is an opportunity to mainstream circular principles within Irish agricultural policy. The Department of the Taoiseach, the Prime Minister of Ireland, published the first National Policy Statement on the Bioeconomy in March 2018 as part of Project Ireland 2040. According to the statement, the bioeconomy should “promote circularity through solutions and innovations that reuse and recycle materials, maximising resource efficiency through the use of unavoidable wastes and environmental sustainability” (Government of Ireland, 2018[49]). The Bioeconomy Implementation Group, co-chaired by the DECC and the DAFM, published its first and only implementation report in 2019 and organised the first National Bioeconomy Forum in July 2021. The organisation of two Bioeconomy Ireland Weeks in 2020 and 2021 respectively has showcased circular bioeconomy projects (e.g. a multi-product biorefinery) and raised awareness on the circular and bioeconomy among farmers. Further integration between bioeconomy and circular economy policy could catalyse action and synergies on both fronts.
The EU Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) may increasingly act as a driver for circular agriculture in Ireland, as “Food, water and nutrients” is one of its seven key product value chains (EC, 2020[5]). Relevant actions for the agri-food sector include the Single-use Plastics Directive, the new Water Reuse Regulation, which encourages water reuse in agriculture, and the forthcoming Integrated Nutrient Management Plan, which aims to reduce nutrient losses by at least 50% while ensuring that there is no deterioration in soil fertility. The EC is also considering reviewing directives on wastewater treatment and sewage sludge. Other EU countries and regions are incorporating the circular economy into their agricultural policies (Box 3.4). Additionally, funding from the agricultural European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) has supported innovation within the circular bioeconomy, such as Biorefinery Glas, the first demonstration of small-scale biorefinery in Ireland (EIP-AGRI, 2022[50]).
The OECD (2021[42]) identifies several EU regions and member states mainstreaming the circular economy into agricultural policy frameworks:
In the Flanders region of Belgium, the Flanders Circular partnership set out in 2020 to develop a circular work programme for the food chain. Guidelines of the work programme were defined in 2020 and implementation will begin in 2021. In addition, a bioeconomy policy plan was developed by the Flemish Department of Economy, Science and Innovation and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in 2020. This plan includes a series of actions ranging from stimulating research and innovation, guiding new collaborations between industry and agriculture, and accompanying policy measures (such as monitoring, international co-operation, training and education).
The government of Estonia in 2020 included the circular bioeconomy in the new Estonian Agricultural and Fisheries Strategy 2030 as a horizontal priority, with the strategy implemented through the EU Common Agricultural Policy of the EU. Additionally, the government announced that EUR 23.8 million (USD 27.1 million) from the Recovery and Resilience Facility would be used for supporting the bioeconomy in Estonia.
The Netherlands continued to develop its Circular Agriculture vision in 2020.
In Portugal, the government introduced the National Strategy against Agricultural and Agribusiness Waste in September 2020 and also put into action the second phase of the Action Plan for the Circular Economy, targeting the revision of the waste management framework with a focus on the management and prevention of biowaste.
Source: Verbatim extracts from OECD (2021[42]), Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2021: Addressing the Challenges Facing Food Systems, https://doi.org/10.1787/2d810e01-en.
Food waste
Ireland was estimated to generate in the order of 1 million tonnes of food waste in 2018, equating to around 3.6 MtCO2 equivalent, but there is significant uncertainty regarding food waste data estimates, particularly at the upper end of the value chain (EPA, 2021[51]). Organic waste accounted for 33% of waste going to commercial residual bins in 201812 (EPA, 2018[52]) despite the Waste Management (Food Waste) Regulations 2009 requiring food suppliers to separate food waste from other waste. Household food waste was estimated at around 255 000 tonnes in 2019, accounting for around 23% of total estimated food waste, although it should be noted that not all food waste is avoidable (e.g. vegetable peelings, used tea bags, etc.) (EPA, 2021[53]). Forthcoming EPA work should provide a better understanding of the scale of the avoidable/unavoidable or edible/inedible split of food waste.
Addressing food waste is the second part of the equation in a circular food system. Food waste should first and foremost be prevented. Unsold food that is fit for human consumption should be redistributed to people via food banks or food redistribution networks. Food unfit for human consumption should, as a priority, be reused as animal feed; then, if unsuitable for animal feed, be converted into energy and biofertiliser via anaerobic digestion or turned into compost for food production (EPA, 2021[51]).
The WAPCE and the Circular Economy Bill are driving action on food waste in Ireland by setting targets and making food waste a priority. The WAPCE establishes the target of a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030, in line with SDG 12.3. The DECC plans to make the provision of a brown bin for the separate collection of organic waste mandatory for all household waste collection services and to work with the DHLGH to change planning and tenancy laws to ensure that apartment blocks have infrastructure allowing food waste separation. The forthcoming Food Waste Prevention Roadmap, one of the WAPCE’s commitments on food waste, is an important first step in gathering stakeholders that will work together to determine a series of actions to deliver this target and promote Ireland’s transition to a circular economy. The dedicated heading for food waste in Ireland’s Circular Economy Bill will place this roadmap on a statutory footing and, as such, ensure political continuity of government action on food waste.
A number of government-led programmes and initiatives are in place to tackle food waste in Ireland:
The EPA’s Food Waste Prevention Programme is implemented through the Circular Economy Programme. The programme delivers campaigns and supports targeting food waste in households, across the supply chain and in the hospitality sector, with a view to achieving the national target for a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030. It focuses on:
Household food waste: Awareness raising through stopfoodwaste.ie and application of behavioural insights to raise awareness of the environmental and social implications of wasted food.
Supply chain and hospitality: Initial actions are focused on the rollout of a standardised measurement methodology and developing tools and resources for upskilling for action on food waste prevention.
Data and evidence: Behavioural insight is a foundation of the programme, providing evidence and data to inform policy, behavioural change interventions and awareness campaigns, establish sectoral benchmarks and indicators, and monitor progress. The EPA held its 2021 Forum on Food Waste in November 2021, gathering key actors from across the food chain to “discuss how measuring food waste and addressing collaboration across the supply chain can provide insights on opportunities and challenges in relation to food loss and waste in Ireland” (EPA, 2021[54]).
The EPA Food Waste Charter is a voluntary agreement introduced in 2017 to support engagement on food waste with the retail sector, using a set of general binding principles. Options for extending the charter are being considered to include other key sectors of the supply chain and revised to include specific measurement, reporting obligations and target-based reduction commitments.
The DECC, EPA, RWMPOs, IWMA and Cré (Composting and Anaerobic Digestion Association of Ireland) are working together to improve the participation rate in the separate collection of food waste. This entails the delivery of a “brown bin starter pack” to all new customers and an initiative to roll out starter packs to households that have organic bins but do not use them effectively. The starter packs comprise a 7-litre kitchen caddy, 20 compostable bin liners and an information leaflet. Trials have shown that these starter packs are effective in improving biowaste separation: collectors have reported increased food waste tonnage and contamination has decreased in areas benefitting from a pilot project (MyWaste.ie, 2020[55]).
Initiatives to redistribute food have become increasingly established in Ireland over the past decade and their use has increased and become particularly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most prominent example is FoodCloud, a social enterprise established in 2012 that redistributes excess food from retailers, farmers and manufacturers to charities and community groups (FoodCloud, 2021[56]). FoodCloud hubs in Cork, Dublin and Galway co-operate with food industry partners to receive and manage their food surpluses. FoodCloud saw unprecedented demand for redistributed food during the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthened engagement with donors to increase redistribution through FoodCloud hubs by approximately 75% in 2020. Under the WAPCE, the DECC plans to look into potential regulatory and legal barriers to food donation and whether mandatory donation of edible food from retail outlets, as is the case in France (Box 3.5), would reduce food waste.
Two consecutive laws, promulgated in 2015 and 2016 respectively, made France the first country in the world to ban supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold products. The “Energy transition for green growth” law (Loi n° 2015-992 du 17 août 2015 relative à la transition énergétique pour la croissance verte), which includes “the fight against waste and the promotion of the circular economy: from product design to recycling”, and the Law on Combating Food Waste (Loi n° 2016-138 du 11 février 2016 relative à la lutte contre le gaspillage alimentaire) are the two main instruments to reduce food waste in the country. The anti-waste law for a circular economy (Loi n° 2020-105 du 10 février 2020 relative à la lutte contre le gaspillage et à l’économie circulaire), approved by the French National Assembly in February 2020, prohibits the destruction of non-food unsold products and increases the sanctions in case of non-compliance with the ban on food waste. For example, food distributors are obliged to propose a donation agreement to food aid organisations for the return of their unsold still-consumable food, when food stores are bigger than 400 m2.
The law coming into force increased the amount of food collected by associations, from 36 000 tonnes in 2015 to 46 000 in 2017. The food is distributed by charities and food banks.
Source: OECD (2020[2]), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions: Synthesis Report, https://doi.org/10.1787/10ac6ae4-en.
The government and businesses across the food value chain are taking steps towards more circularity in the food system but a holistic vision for a circular food system is lacking among stakeholders. Barriers relate to the fragmentation of roles and responsibilities, regulation and awareness and education. The DECC and EPA’s focus on downstream food waste (from processing to distribution and retail) is poorly connected to Ireland’s agricultural policy relating to upstream food loss, which is led by the DAFM and supported by Teagasc and the DHLGH. Several stakeholders highlighted both a lack of incentives rewarding circular practices and the existence of perverse incentives preventing the application of the food waste hierarchy across the Irish food system (e.g. incentivising food going to animal feed rather than redistribution for human consumption). Furthermore, past and present agri-food strategies underscore a limited understanding of the implications and benefits of circular food systems. Harmonised, accurate and timely data is essential to understand where in the value chain food is being lost and why, but the current lack of a harmonised measurement methodology and collection does not yet allow doing so. There is significant uncertainty regarding the level of food waste from processing and manufacturing, which could amount to 500 000 tonnes, but this figure is likely overestimated due to the inclusion of non-food waste in the food waste category. Reliable data is virtually non-existent at the primary production level; the further upstream food waste occurs, the more data quality weakens (EPA, 2021[51]). However, data quality on food waste is set to improve as part of a new EU requirement for member states to report food waste data. The EPA is working on a national food waste measurement protocol, which is in its final stages of development, and an EPA-funded research project will provide data and information on the estimated quantities of food waste and food loss arising from primary production. This could allow the introduction of price-based incentives to prevent or redistribute food waste downstream.
Circular economy initiatives take place at various scales, ranging from the micro level (e.g. neighbourhood) to the metropolitan, regional and national levels, where, in some cases, linkages across urban and rural areas are particularly relevant (OECD, 2020[2]). These different scales are reflected in the range of Irish circular economy initiatives.
At the micro level, certain Irish university campuses have implemented initiatives related to the circular economy as part of network-supported sustainability programmes. In partnership with the EPA, the Irish University Association has set up a Campus Living Labs Sustainability Project in 2021, to help university campuses achieve legal waste management requirements, including the reduction of residual waste, increasing waste separation and recycling, and reducing food waste per capita by 50% in line with SDG 12.3 (IUA, 2021[57]).
The shift to a circular economy can also strengthen links between urban and rural areas in Ireland. The forthcoming CircBioCityWaste project will transform urban biowaste (e.g. sludge, dairy processing sludge and black bin waste) into sustainable bio-based fertilisers and biochemicals for agriculture and food, as well as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (MTU, 2022[58]). The collaborative project is led by Munster Technological University and funded by the EPA and DAFM. Farmers’ markets, co-operative stores in cities and towns (e.g. Limerick’s Urban Co-Op (The Urban Co-Op, 2021[59])) and neighbour food distribution networks, which provide farmers with an online platform to sell their products locally and consumers to collect their order at a local collection point (NeighbourFood, 2021[60]), are well established in Ireland and contribute to narrowing food loops. Community-supported agriculture (CSA), a partnership whereby people agree to pay a fixed seasonal fee to farmers in exchange for the delivery of healthy, local produce, is also promoted via the CSA Network Ireland as a means of localising food production and consumption (CSA Network Ireland, 2021[61]). International examples of urban-rural collaboration within a circular economy are highlighted in Box 3.6.
The metabolic connection between urban and rural areas creates opportunities for collaboration within the circular economy. For example:
In the province of Groningen, Netherlands, the local Making Space project (2019-20) aims to set up a local value chain and establish a link between creative industries in the city and its rural areas. The initiative aims to create new products from renewable resources available within the territory of the province.
In Tampere, Finland, a local sustainable development company (EcoFellows) is co-ordinating rural-urban partnerships related to biogas. The company works as a hub bringing together different actors that have not usually been in contact before (farms, power plant operators, logistics providers, etc.).
In Kitakyushu City, Japan, a food recycling loop has been established to use compost generated in urban areas as fertilisers in rural areas or as a source of energy for the city.
In Valladolid, Spain, the Municipal Food Strategy intends to improve co-ordination between urban and rural areas and create employment opportunities whereby the city can act as an agro-incubator for responsible consumption and local production. It foresees the creation of a “land bank” (banco de tierras) that the municipality could rent to local producers at affordable costs. Moreover, the municipality is planning actions to improve the measurement, traceability and quality of organic waste from urban (e.g. hotel and restaurant sector) and rural areas.
The city of Lisbon, Portugal, created spaces for local producers to sell their products in the city (e.g. food markets where local, organic or sustainable products can be bought). This measure aims to encourage growth in the number of producers and farms in the surrounding areas.
Source: OECD (2020[2]), The Circular Economy in Cities and Regions: Synthesis Report, https://doi.org/10.1787/10ac6ae4-en.
Many cities and regions have industrial symbiosis processes and clusters, starting from the principle that one person’s waste is another’s resource or input (OECD, 2020[2]). Two such initiatives in Ireland are the Circular Bioeconomy Cluster South-West and an industrial symbiosis pilot. The industrial symbiosis pilot, facilitated by Irish Manufacturing Research (IMR) and funded by the EPA’s Green Enterprise Fund, took place for one year (2020-21) between St. Mel’s Brewery and Panel to Food in Longford Industrial Park (Irish Manufacturing Research, 2021[62]). The key pilot output was the launch of craft beer to demonstrate the feasibility of using surplus cooked dough as a partial material substitute for malted barley. The Circular Bioeconomy Cluster South-West gathers industry, businesses, government and research centres to design and implement circular initiatives to member companies, focusing on marine, agriculture and waste-to-value (Circular Bioeconomy Cluster South West, 2021[63]). It supports members with different services such as project development, project partner identification, talent development and funding. The cluster was founded by the Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CircBio), founded in 2019 within Shannon Applied Biotechnology Centre at Munster Technological University, which focuses on strengthening collaboration between researchers, technology providers and industry to develop, scale and internationalise next-generation bio-based products, services and value chains, whilst driving forward the transition to a low-carbon circular economy. As of 2022, the Circular Economy Programme will support “demonstration hubs”, targeted projects to demonstrate circular economy actions at the county scale, as a model for national rollout (EPA, 2021[64]). Projects could include best practice demonstrators for construction and demolition sites and supporting reusable packaging in towns, among others.
References
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Notes
← 1. The proposed terms of reference for the Circular Economy Working Group within the Strategy foresee that a scoping exercise for a material flow analysis will take place in the first half of 2022.
← 2. As of July 2021, cotton bud sticks, cutlery, plates, stirrers, chopsticks, straws, polystyrene containers and oxo-degradable plastic products will be banned in Ireland.
← 3. The Irish Waste Management Association is working on a digital DRS whereby consumers would pay a deposit on packaged goods and reclaim that deposit digitally when they place the packaging in the correct household bin to facilitate recycling.
← 4. Preparation for reuse is the process by which products or components that have become waste are prepared so that they can be reused without any other pre-processing.
← 5. According to the latest figures from the National Waste Collection Permit Office, 885 870 houses had been given brown bins in 2020, out of 1.3 million houses that avail of a collection service.
← 6. The EC has end-of-waste criteria for iron, steel and aluminium scrap and glass cullet.
← 7. Construction covers both buildings and civil engineering works.
← 8. The IGBC is a non-profit organisation supported by businesses across the built environment value chain.
← 9. Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.
← 10. Teagasc is Ireland’s Agriculture and Food Development Authority.
← 11. As highlighted by the EPA (2020[20]), however, actions addressing nutrient loss must be place-based, as the soil type and geographical setting affect nutrient behaviour in the landscape. In many areas, existing pressures have already exceeded the capacity of soil and water bodies to accept nutrients and sediment without causing significant harm. As a result, place-based action such as Local Catchment Assessments is being taken locally.
← 12. A 2019 commercial food waste survey of 151 hospitality businesses across Ireland highlighted that this was due to the insufficient provision of bins by waste collection companies (34% of respondents), the lack of storage space for multiple bins (22%) and hygiene issues (attraction of vermin, 16% and bad smell, 14%) (RedC, 2019[65]). Monetary incentives and staff training were highlighted as the main means of encouraging better food waste separation (17% and 15% respectively).