Note: These pages present provisional 1990-2021 Inventory data (updated July 2022) and the EPA's latest 2021-2030 projections estimates (updated June 2022) using global warming potentials (GWP) from the IPCC's 5th Assessment Report (AR5).
In 2021 the waste sector was responsible for 1.5% of Ireland's Greenhouse Gas emissions
The waste sector includes emission estimates from solid waste disposal, composting, waste incineration (excluding waste to energy), open burning of waste and wastewater treatment and discharge. The largest of these sources is solid waste disposal on land (landfills) where methane (CH4) is the gas concerned.
Emissions from the waste sector decreased by 4.5% in 2021, with decreases in sub category landfills of 5.4%. Overall emissions decreased by 0.04 Mt CO2eq compared to 2021 emissions. Long-term decreases are a result of decreased quantities of municipal solid wastes (MSW) disposed of at landfills and a decrease in the proportion of organic materials (food and garden waste) in MSW as well as a diversion of paper products from landfills. Improved management of landfill facilities, including increased recovery of landfill gas utilised for electricity generation and flaring is also a big driver in decreased emissions from the waste sector.
(Latest update June 2022)
Waste sector emissions are projected to decrease by 13.2% between 2021 and 2030 to 0.83 Mt CO2eq under the With Existing Measures scenario.
Note: these projected emissions were published in June 2022 before the publication of the latest provisional inventory emissions for 1990-2021 (published in July 2022). The projected emissions are estimated using the final 1990-2020 inventory data (published in March 2022). The projected 2021 emission data is therefore different to the provisional 2021 inventory data.
