Municipal Waste Data Archive
Municipal waste is made up of household waste and commercial waste that is similar to household waste. The EPA has an obligation under the Waste Framework Directive to compile and reports data on how much municipal waste is generated and how it is treated annually1.
Our national municipal waste data releases are based on information compiled in line with European rules. Please note that those rules changed for reporting year 2020.
Figure 1
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Table 1. Municipal Data Archive Summary
Description 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Municipal waste managed (tonnes) 2,376,072 2,471,617 2,630,592 2,773,264 2,837,774 3,209,132 3299704 3103820 2824977 2580434 2546577 2478337 2575217.787 2718299 2723542.705 2865206.78 3036992 3181120 3144788 3151153.904 3134840 3075374 Municipal waste generated (tonnes) 2846115 2823242 2692537 2619023 2763166 2768043 2912353.071 3085652 3210220 3170388 3190823.904 3134840 3108749 Disposal to landfill (tonnes) 1,992,050 1,901,864 1,832,624 1,818,536 1,824,066 1,980,618 2014797 1938712 1723705 1495565 1344008 1027577 536530 710805 622882 418029.0795 471594 517301 504305 459295.0789 452334 473121 Energy Recovery (tonnes) 88574 111000 109000 196000 427093 893030 810612 880849 1243309.861 1412589 1352727 1312957 1364103.81 1332310 1278279 Compost and Anaerobic Digestion (tonnes) 22,000 34,000 40,000 49,580 47,800 55,350 78620 106670 88100 107000 157000 156212 180017 189874 246341 245482 295314 351204 487594 480344.7487 480433 493537 Materials Recycled excluding compost (tonnes) 283,554 462,905 686,763 835,488 876,227 1,064,342 1081147 976862 902222 910000 861000 828492 863172 935250 871855.2195 851293.5455 857792.6749 959100 824969 825669.3929 814327 828427 Total recycled including compost (tonnes) 305,554 496,905 726,763 885,068 924,027 1,119,692 1159767 1083532 990322 1017000 1018000 984704 1043189 1125124 1118196 1096776 1153107 1310304 1312563 1306014.142 1294760 1321964 Municipal Waste Generated per capita (kg) rounded, based on CSO population estimates 620 630 660 690 690 760 750 690 620 620 620 590 0 560 0 580 580 600 620 640 620 620 590 580 Population Estimates from CSO (all ages and all sexes) downloaded 23 09 2025 3,847,200 3,917,200 3,979,900 4,045,200 4,133,800 4,232,900 4375800 4485100 4533400 4554800 4574900 4593700 4614700 4645400 4687800 4739600 4810900 4884900 4958500 5029900 5074700 5184000 5281600 5380300 Open in Excel: Municipal Data Archive Summary excel (XLS 12KB)
Open in CSV : Municipal Data Archive Summary CSV (CSV 1KB)
For more information see: Municipal | Environmental Protection Agency (epa.ie)
1. There are no data available from 2013 or 2015.