Ireland's Biodegradable Waste Status

update April 2010

The National Strategy on Biodegradable Waste published in April 2006 by the Department of Environment, Heritage and local Government proposes to divert biodegradable waste from landfill. The strategy has targets for operational capacity to treat source separated food and garden waste by composting and anaerobic digestion.

Compost Facilities
There are about 30 composting facilities in Ireland which treat garden/park waste, food waste and sludges. Due to recent changes in Government Policy there will be a number of new facilities over the next two years. Details on compost and anaerobic digestion facilities can be found on www.cre.ie

Compost Standard
At the moment there is no compost standard in Ireland. In the absence of standards the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local authorities are using the technical discussion document produced by the European Commission "Biological Treatment of Biowaste", when regulating composting facilities.
Cré conducted a compost standards research project, funded by the EPA. The information from this research project is been used to develop a national standard by the National Standards Authority of Ireland.

Markets for Compost
The markets for compost in Ireland include peat dilution, agricultural and horticulture.

National Legislation for Source Separation of Commercial Food Waste
IN December 2009, John Gormley, Ireland’s Minister for the Environment, published the Food Waste Regulations (SI 508 of 2009) heralding national legislation for the source separation of food waste from major commercial premises.

These regulations are designed to promote the segregation and recovery of food waste in the commercial sector. They will facilitate achieving the targets set out in the European Commission’s Landfill Directive 99/31/EC for the diversion of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) from landfill sites to composting and anaerobic digestion plants, and to other forms of biological treatment.  Gormley, a member of Ireland’s Green Party, does not support incineration and he has specified in the legislation that the food waste cannot be sent to incinerators. Disposal of source separated food waste into the residual collection service also is prohibited.

The regulations impose obligations on the major producers of food waste, such as state buildings where food is prepared, restaurants and cafés, hot food outlets, canteens, hotels and larger guest houses, supermarkets and other food retailers, to segregate these materials and make them available for separate collection service (commonly known as a brown bin service in Ireland). Alternatively, these materials can be biologically treated (e.g. composted) on the premises where they are generated under specified conditions. Small businesses that produce less than 50 kg of food waste per week are exempted from complying for one year.

COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS
To comply with the regulations, a waste producer must submit a food waste management implementation report to the local authority on the use, type, quantity, origin, management arrangements and destination of food waste. An annual environmental report (AER) may be prepared by a producer in response to a notification by a local authority.  It would contain the quantities of food supplied to customers; quantities of food waste consigned to biological treatment, other methods of treatment or discarded as waste; and measures proposed and/or adopted to reduce food waste.

Interestingly the AER has to include measures that the waste producer adopted to reduce food waste in the first place. Businesses already using a brown bin service in Ireland found initially that by source separating food waste and weighing it (brown bin service in Ireland is charged on a per kilo basis), were astounded by how much food waste they generate. This led some businesses to examine ways to prevent food waste Such as food portion control and buying food prepared (e.g. potatoes peeled).

The use of in-sink macerators are indirectly curtailed. The regulations state that the output from an in-sink macerator cannot be disposed of into the sewer system.

While the regulations came into force on January 1, 2010, the main requirements —segregating food waste, use of a brown bin collection service/ treating on-site, constraints on in-sink macerators — is not obligatory until July 1, 2010.

Under the new rules, waste producers can save money as they avoid the landfill levy because the food waste is not disposed. For waste collectors, it evens the playing field as all collectors have to jump together at the same time and provide a brown bin service. Processors have the certainty that feedstock will be available to turn food waste into quality compost and digestate. More importantly, as was pointed out at a Biowaste Industry Investment Summit hosted by Cré last year, this legislation gives banks and investment groups the security to provide capital to build the infrastructure to process the food waste in this very uncertain economic climate.

NEW INITIATIVES IN 2010
Beside the source separation legislation, the Government of Ireland announced many new initiatives that that will divert significant quantities of organic waste from landfills during 2010. These initiatives include:
The landfill levy will be increased in a stepped effect over the next two years. By February 2010 the landfill levy will have been increased to €30/metric ton and will increase to €50 /metric ton in 2011 and €75/metric ton in 2012;
An incineration levy of €20-38/metric ton will be introduced. Section 60 Notice will restrict the amount of waste that can be sent to incineration;
The Environmental Protection Agency Guidance on Pretreatment of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to Landfill will restrict the amount of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill. It will have to be stabilized to a standard by composting/ anaerobic digestion s to meet the requirements of the Directive and avoid the landfill levy. This comes into effect on July 1, 2010;
The Government Green Enterprise Action Group published its report and over the next six months the Prime Minister will be overseeing the implementation of its recommendations. Some of the recommendations
Review of Waste Management Policy: Some of the 26 recommendations include:
National legislation that collectors of household waste provide a “weekly collection of food waste”; Legislation that household recycling centers have facilities for collection of garden/park waste; and Targets for the quantity of “residual waste” from households in a local authority area. If exceeded, the local authority will be fined €50 /metric ton.

EMERGING TRENDS
There is significant interest among compost facilities in Ireland to expand by adding an anaerobic digestion plant to treat food waste followed by composting the digestate. Due to the interest of Cré members in this technology, Cre has embraced anaerobic digestion within its remit

Contact and Source of Country Information
Cré - Composting and Anaerobic Digestion Association of Ireland  
Percy Foster
Chief Executive
PO Box 13,
Dundalk
Co. Louth
IRELAND
Tel: 00 353 (0) 86 8129260
Email: percy@cre.ie
Web: www.cre.ie