The Republic of Ireland met its packaging recycling quota for 2011, according to Repak, the organisation in charge of the country's packaging recycling scheme.
Dr. Andrew Hetherington, Repak CEO, said that 2011 had been “a challenging year”. However by “reducing our overall costs by some 7.6%, the average cost per tonne recovered by Repak came down from €45 to €40 per tonne recovered”.
“We recognise the tremendous commitment of our members in continuing to support the recycling of their, and Irelands, used packaging and believe this commitment will be recognised in the PRI review,” he added.
Last year Ireland, through Repak support, continued to exceed EU used packaging recovery and recycling targets by recovering and recycling 652,000 tonnes – an increase of 4.1% on 2010, which represents the equivalent carbon savings of taking over a quarter of a million cars off Irish roads in 2011.
Of the 652,000 tonnes Repak funded, 89% was recycled and 11% was recovered.