Ireland, which once trailed far behind fellow EU states in its packaging recycling efforts, has now exceeded the levels of recycling set by the European Commission in 2001.
In 2001 targets were set at a 25 per cent recycle rate, still far behind the level governing other, more recycling-friendly, member states. However, it seems like the Republic has now taken to the recycling culture, achieving a recycling rate of some 33 per cent so far this year.
Ireland is now eyeing the next stage of the recycling targets, which the EU is doubling up to 50 per cent for 2005. However this figure will probably still be behind that of the rest of Europe, if proposals are accepted to implement packaging recycling rates of 65 per cent by 2006 throughout most of the other EU member states.
The Republic must maintain the current cycling levels, set at 450,000 tonnes a year, if it is to avoid financial penalities. Currently Irish manufacturers produce around 750,000 tonnes of packaging that is not recycled each year.
Currently any company supplying more than 25 tonnes of packaging to the Irish market must comply with the recycling agreement.
However, industry observers say that many companies are still avoiding their recycling obligations and that a tighter reign should be kept to ensure full implementation.
The Republic's government has introduced a number of public awareness campaigns to try and encourage consumers to become involved in the recycling process. This has led to the introduction of bottle and paper banks, which according to official figures have had a 25 per cent uptake.
Repak, which is the industry-funded waste packaging compliance scheme specifically set up to help meet the recycling requirements, is promoting improvements in recycling, and has recently designated Repak National Recycling Week to help draw further public attention to the issues.