Repak recovers and recycles 1.038m tonnes of material

By Maurice Garvey

IRELAND surpassed all EU recycling and recovery targets in 2020 despite Covid-19, according to Ballymount-based environmental organisation Repak.

The not-for-profit group recovered and recycled 1.038 million tonnes of material in Ireland in 2020, a 2.9 per cent increase from 2019.

Meanwhile, Repak released it’s annual Plastic Pledge report, which includes Ireland’s efforts to reduce plastic packaging waste and to meet the EU target of making all plastic packaging recyclable by 2030.

The report found that signatories to the Repak pledge, reduced plastic packaging waste by 18.6 per cent in 2020, removing over 55 million avoidable plastic items from the Irish market.

Up to 135 members signed up to Repak’s plastic pledge initiative, which they started in 2018.

It commits signatories to reducing plastic packaging waste.

Early signatories to the pledge include Aldi, Britvic, Fyffes, Lidl, Ballygowan and Tesco Ireland.

Although Repak has over 1,000 members, CEO, Seamus Clancy, said not all members produce plastic but of the 135 signed up to the pledge, they represent over 80 per cent of plastic that is produced in the market.

“We do want to get as many producers as possible that are placing plastic packaging on the Irish market to join the Plastic Pledge,” he said.

Mr Clancy encouraged businesses to check Repak’s packaging design guide on its website.

“You’re not going to go anywhere unless you are embracing this now,” he said.

In 2020, 95.9 per cent of the segregated plastic waste from Lidl Ireland’s premises was recycled, while Britvic Ireland launched 100 per cent rPET Ballygowan 500ml bottles.

Through Aldi’s relationship with Tallaght based Food Cloud, over 2.16 million meals were donated to charities across Ireland, with plans to expand the scope of the initiative.

According to the findings of Repak’s third report, Plastic Pledge members achieved a combined plastic packaging recycling rate of 67 per cent and diverted a total of 23,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste from the Irish market.

Mr Clancy said projects initiated by the Plastic Challenge Working Group have also been recognised by the country’s decision makers, with several forming part of the government’s circular economy plan.

“The group and the Plastic Pledge signatories have achieved so much in the last three years, and we look forward to continuing our work with them and creating more solutions for the environmental sector,” Mr Clancy concluded.