Domestic Recycling Services in Ireland

Information

Many of the items used in your home on a daily basis that end up in your bin each week can be recycled. The benefits of recycling include a cleaner environment, the safe disposal of hazardous materials, greater awareness of excess packaging and a more careful approach to the way in which you use and re-use materials.

Over 5 million tonnes of household and commercial waste is disposed of by local authorities and private contractors in Ireland each year. One of the costs of disposing of this waste is the creation of landfill sites where domestic and commercial waste is buried and can take many years to degrade. Recycling your domestic waste reduces the volume of waste going to landfill sites. In addition, recycling and composting your domestic waste also has the knock-on effect of helping you to cut your weekly domestic waste collection charges.

To help facilitate the recycling of products and goods, many items carry international recycling symbols that will help you identify how the product can be reused and how it should be disposed of safely. See ‘Recycling symbols’ under ‘Rules’ below for more information.

There are a range of recycling services and facilities in your area that recycle domestic waste. (Many of the services outlined below are free of charge to the public.)

Recycling services

There are numerous ways of arranging to recycle your waste. You can take it to a recycling facility or avail of a kerbside collection (if available). For organic waste, you can compost it yourself if there isn't an organic kerbside collection service in your area. 

There are three types of public recycling facility: bring centres, civic amenity centres and what are simply called recycling sentres. You can find out what is available in your area from Repak or from your local authority.

Bring centres

There are almost 2,000 bring centres throughout Ireland. These are unstaffed collection points for recyclable materials like glass, paper, textiles, food and drink cans. They are common in most areas. You will find a range of banks where you can deposit glass, plastics and cans. Some bring centres also have banks for paper and engine oil.

Civic amenity centres

There are about 100 civic amenity centres in Ireland. These are similar to bring centres, but can accept a larger variety of items. They are staffed and have specific opening hours, so there will be someone there during opening hours to give you advice or information. Civic amenity centres are custom-built and accept a wide range of materials. In general they accept paper, cardboard, plastic and glass bottles, drinks cans and food tins, textiles and footwear, electrical equipment, fluorescent tubes, waste oil, DIY waste and construction and demolition waste. Some centres also collect green waste like Christmas trees and grass clippings.

Recycling centres

Recycling centres are also staffed and gated, and have specific opening hours, but accept a smaller variety of items than civic amenity centres. In general they do not accept very bulky items. They are not custom-built and tend to be located in existing sites such as local authority depots. There are about 80 of them around Ireland.

Kerbside collection

Kerbside collection of separated waste (often known as a "green bin" collection) may be run either by local authorities or by private companies. Recyclable materials include plastic bottles, glass bottles, drink cans, food tins, newspapers or magazines, cardboard and compostable material. Some local authorities provde a special bin collection for organic waste - often called a "brown bin". You can find out from your local authority if your area has a kerbside collection service already in operation or being planned.

Composting

Composting is the breakdown of organic material such as kitchen or garden waste by organisms that feed on the waste and convert it into an earth-like mass. The compost can then be used as a soil conditioner. Most garden waste, such as grass cuttings, hedge clippings, weeds, old plants and garden cuttings, vegetable wastes and fallen leaves can be composted. Kitchen waste like fruit and vegetable remains, tea bags and coffee grounds, flowers, crushed eggshells, newspaper and light cardboard can also be composted. Most local authorities provide home composters at subsidised rates for people interested in composting their household waste. Organic materials can also be brought to civic amenity centres to be composted, or placed in your "brown bin" for collection.

Rules

Items that can be recycled

• Glass bottles and jars (some bring centres recycle plate glass or windows)
• Paper (newspapers, magazines, telephone books, office paper, junk mail, comics and light cardboard)
• Paper; laminated or waxed papers (for example, paper cups) and beverage cartons (for example, Tetrapak, milk or orange juice cartons).
• Aluminium cans (soft drink and beer cans, foil)
• Plastic (drinks bottles, detergent bottles, carrier bags, clingfilm, bubblewrap, yogurt and butter cartons)
• Food tins (fruit, vegetables, pet food)
• Plastic bottle tops, metal and aluminium lids
• Batteries (lead acid, nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium/lithium ion and all household primary, powerpack and mobile phone batteries)
• Green waste (see items that can be composted)
• Textiles (clean clothes, bed linen, towels, coats and jackets)
• Waste tyres
• Waste oil (mineral and vegetable oils)
• Cars
• White goods (washing machines, cookers, dryers, dishwashers, fridges)
• Other household electrical appliances (kettles, toasters, computers)
• Wood (without nails)

Items that can be composted

• Teabags
• Coffee grounds
• Egg cartons
• Grass cuttings
• Hedge clippings
• Weeds
• Old plants and garden cuttings
• Vegetable wastes
• Fallen leaves
• Fruit and vegetable remains
• Crushed egg shells
• Newspapers
• Light cardboard

Items that cannot be recycled or left at bring centres or civic amenity centres

• Crystal glass, Pyrex, television tubes, opal glass, (that is, alcohol bottles where a large amount of foil is glued to he bottle) and car windscreens
• Porcelain, pottery, stones and ceramic tiles
• Lead foil (occurs on certain brandy bottles)
• Carpets and rugs, cushions or mattresses

Recycling symbols

You will see various recycling symbols on products and packaging. The most common is the mobius loop - three arrows in a circle. This means that a product is either recyclable or has some recycled content. Unless the product states the percentage of recycled content, the symbol usually means that the product can be recycled. However this does not mean that it will be recycled or that such facilities exist. You, as a consumer, are responsible for bringing the packaging to a recycling facility after you have used its contents.

Another common symbol is the Green Dot. This is a pan-European symbol that appears under licence on the packaging of products you buy. It means that the supplier of that packaging is committed to protecting the environment by funding the recovery and recycling of their packaging waste. You can visit Repak's Green Dot website to learn more and you can see some of the most common symbols here.

What happens to recycled items

Batteries

Lead acid batteries (cars, trucks, boats, tractors, etc.) are made of plastic and contain dilute sulphuric acid and lead. During the recycling process, the batteries are crushed, the acid is drained off and neutralized and the plastic and lead is compacted and baled for recycling. Button batteries (cameras, hearing aids, watches, computers and calculators) can be recycled using a thermal process. Domestic rechargeable batteries (mobile and cordless phones, laptops, power tools and cordless appliances) can be also recycled using a thermal process, which reclaims the cadmium, nickel and iron. The reclaimed cadmium is used to make new batteries while the nickel and iron are used to make stainless steel.

Glass

Glass can be recycled either in the form of returnable bottles or by bringing glass bottles and jars to a bottle bank. Glass that is brought to a bottle bank must be sorted according by colour to avoid contamination. The glass is crushed and turned into "cullet". In the making of new glass, up to 40% of the raw material can be in the form of cullet. This amounts to significant savings in raw materials and energy needed to melt the glass.

Vehicles

Vehicles (cars, vans, trucks and other vehicles) can be dismantled, stripped of any valuable materials and crushed for smelting.

Household white goods

Household appliances like washing machines, cookers, dryers, dishwashers and toasters can be dismantled. The ferrous and non-ferrous metals are separated and the remainder is disposed of. There are also specialist recyclers who process the more complex items such as computers and televisions. These recyclers separate components of the equipment for resale or recycling of valuable materials. They may also refurbish entire systems for resale.

Aluminium

The aluminium can (drink and food can) is one of the most valuable of the common waste materials. Aluminium foil, especially the heavier foil that comes with take-away meals, ready to cook meals and apple tarts, can also be recycled, as can the lighter foil used in cooking. Baled aluminium cans and foil are smelted into 27 tonne ingots, which are then rolled before being made into cans and other products.

Oil

Waste mineral oil (fuel oil and lubrication oil) can be reprocessed and re-sold as low-grade industrial lubricant or industrial boiler fuel oil to generate heat, electricity or both. Vegetable oils, such as cooking oil, should never be mixed with mineral oil. These oils can be cleaned and used in animal feeds. Some recycling centres accept domestic cooking oils.

Paper

For fire safety reasons, paper recycling facilities must be supervised. Newspapers, magazines, office paper, junk mail, light cardboard, telephone books, greeting cards, calendars and diaries, paper bags, comics can all be recycled. Collected paper is sent to paper mills, where it is recycled into new paper.

Plastic

The plastics industry has developed a code for labeling different plastic materials to help with identification and recycling. The majority of plastic containers found in the home are made from HDPE, LDPE, PVC or PET. Most of the containers for soft drinks are made from PET (polyethene terephthalate). These bottles can be shredded and recycled as fibre for the polyester lining for sleeping bags, pillows and quilted jackets. Recycled plastics can be used in a wide range of areas, such as fencing, garden furniture, car bumpers, bin liners and PVC pipes and flooring.

Green goods

Home composting provides you with an excellent soil conditioner and allows you to recycle much of your kitchen and garden waste. Most civic amenity centres provide composting services and free compost. Some local authorities also provide services for the recycling of Christmas trees. Trees are shredded and the shavings are used for landscaping.

Hazardous waste

Many household products contain substances that are potentially harmful to the environment. They include medicines, aerosols, bulbs and fluorescent tubes, polishes, adhesives, household cleaners, drain cleaners, solvents, weedkillers and fertilizers. Some of these items can be brought to a civic amenity centre where they can be properly recycled or disposed of. Pharmaceutical drugs (such as painkillers), medical waste (such as syringes or surgical gloves) and containers for pharmaceutical drugs should be returned to your local pharmacy, where they can be disposed of properly. Some local authorities organize mobile hazardous waste collections, where waste can be brought to a central point and deposited. Contact your local authority for further details.

Textiles

Clothes and textiles that are suitable are sent to charity shops to be sold. Clothes and textiles that are not suitable for re-sale are recycled into carpet underlay felt, machine wiping cloths or fibre filler for furniture.

Rates

The recycling services provided by local authorities to the public are mainly free of charge. There are no charges for bringing most waste material to bring centres or civic amenity centres. Howvere, there may be charges for certain items or for large quantities - check with your local centre. A small charge for kerbside collection may also be included in your bin/domestic waste charges. This charge is not an additional cost onto the cost of a wheelie bin. It is included within the provision of the service. Most local authorities also provide home composters at subsidised rates.

For details of private operators, you should apply to the operator directly.

How to apply

For details of recycling services in your area, apply to your local authority or the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

If you want to make a complaint about the granting of a waste licence, you should phone the Environmental Services section of your local authority for further details. The local authority will ask you to submit your complaint in writing (there is no form available) and your local authority will decide how it will proceed.

Where to apply