Waste Generation Data Archive

Waste generation refers to the total tonnage of waste that is disposed of and enters the waste management system for treatment in Ireland each year National waste generation is calculated every second year by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) based on EPA's waste data¹. In 2021 and 2022, the Circular Economy and Waste Statistic's team calculated national waste generation using a it's own methodology.

Figure 1

Year	Population Estimates from CSO April 2025 (all ages and all sexes)	Overall Waste Generation CSO (t)	Overall Waste Generation EPA (t)	01 Chemical compound wastes (t)	02 Chemical preparation wastes (t)	03 Other chemical wastes (t)	05 Health care and biological wastes (t)	06 Metallic wastes (t)	07 Non-metallic wastes (t)	08 Discarded equipment (t)	09 Animal and vegetal wastes (t)	10 Mixed wastes (t)	11 common sludges (t)	12 Mineral wastes (t)	13 Solidified, stabilised or vitrified waste (t)
2004	4045200	24499142
2005	4133800
2006	4232900	29599175
2007	4375800
2008	4485100	23739982
2009	4533400
2010	4554800	19807586
2011	4574900
2012	4593700	12713021
2013	4614700
2014	4645400	15166830
2015	4687800
2016	4739600	15251689
2017	4810900
2018	4884900	13986757
2019	4958500
2020	5029900	16192033
2021	5074700		17597245	97988	76994	156156	22836	550842	2296963	194853	1111868	733824	415298	11939624
2022	5184000	15348488	15678131.28	99462.26253	17665.638	222311.0574	26924.0089	463093.7024	2124105.714	237050.673	1132969.762	884042.242	424221.916	10046284.3	0
2023	5281600
2024	5380300
2025	5458600
	Source PEA01: https://data.cso.ie/	https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ten00108/default/table?lang=en&category=t_env.t_env_was.t_env_wasgt		EWC Material Category source: https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/stats/documents/ece/ces/ge.33/2012/mtg2/Supplement_Manual_on_Waste_Statistics.pdf

Open in Excel: National Total Waste Generation Data Archive Excel (XLS 9KB)

Open in CSV : National Total Waste Generation Data Archive CSV (CSV 1KB)

For more information on national waste generation see: Eurostat: Generation of Waste by Waste Category

1. Every second year the Circular Economy and Waste Statistics team fulfill reporting obligations under the Waste Statistics Regulation (EC) No 2150/2002. These data are used by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to compile total waste generation for Ireland.