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.
Table 1. Municipal Data Archive Summary
Year | Municipal waste managed (tonnes) | Municipal waste generated (tonnes) | Disposal to landfill (tonnes) | Energy Recovery (tonnes) | Compost and Anaerobic Digestion (tonnes) | Materials Recycled excluding compost (tonnes) | ||
2001 | 2,376,072 | 1,992,050 | 22,000 | 283,554 | ||||
2002 | 2,471,617 | 1,901,864 | 34,000 | 462,905 | ||||
2003 | 2,630,592 | 1,832,624 | 40,000 | 686,763 | ||||
2004 | 2,773,264 | 1,818,536 | 49,580 | 835,488 | ||||
2005 | 2,837,774 | 1,824,066 | 47,800 | 876,227 | ||||
2006 | 3,209,132 | 1,980,618 | 55,350 | 1,064,342 | ||||
2007 | 3,299,704 | 2,014,797 | 78,620 | 1,081,147 | ||||
2008 | 3,103,820 | 1,938,712 | 88,574 | 106,670 | 976,862 | |||
2009 | 2,824,977 | 1,723,705 | 111,000 | 88,100 | 902,222 | |||
2010 | 2,580,434 | 2,846,115 | 1,495,565 | 109,000 | 107,000 | 910,000 | ||
2011 | 2,546,577 | 2,823,242 | 1,344,008 | 196,000 | 157,000 | 861,000 | ||
2012 | 2,478,337 | 2,692,537 | 1,027,577 | 427,093 | 156,212 | 828,492 | ||
2013 | ||||||||
2014 | 2,575,218 | 2,619,023 | 536,530 | 893,030 | 180,017 | 863,172 | ||
2015 | ||||||||
2016 | 2,718,299 | 2,763,166 | 710,805 | 810,612 | 189,874 | 935,250 | ||
2017 | 2,723,543 | 2,768,043 | 622,882 | 880,849 | 246,341 | 871,855 | ||
2018 | 2,865,207 | 2,912,353 | 418,029 | 1,243,310 | 245,482 | 851,294 | ||
2019 | 3,036,992 | 3,085,652 | 471,594 | 1,412,589 | 295,314 | 857,793 | ||
2020 | 3,181,120 | 3,210,220 | 517,301 | 1,352,727 | 351,204 | 959,100 | ||
2021 | 3,144,788 | 3,170,388 | 504,305 | 1,312,957 | 487,594 | 824,969 | ||
Open in Excel: Municipal Data Archive Summary excel (XLS 11KB)
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.