The policy paper Changing Our Ways, the policy paper published yesterday by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, is an important contribution to the debate on waste management. It underlines the extent of the problem, our continuing reliance on landfill sites and the degree to which this State has still to adopt the kind of environmentally-friendly waste disposal that is taken for granted in many other EU states. The paper makes it clear that we are poised for a waste management crisis - unless remedial action is taken.
The facts of the situation are alarming. Landfill sites continue to cater for 92 per cent of municipal waste: within the EU only Greece can point to a higher level of dependence. The recycling rate (only eight per cent of all waste in the Republic is recycled) is also one of the poorest in the EU. Indeed, the general practice with regard to waste management in this State is still at a primitive level, when compared to most of our European neighbours. The Minister has described the policy paper as a "radical change in Ireland's approach to waste disposal". The days of landfill sites are numbered, he declared. It is hoped that some 50 per cent of household waste can be diverted from landfill sites over a 15-year period. The ambition is that over a similar time-frame, landfill will become only a subsidiary element of an integrated waste infrastructure.
The policy paper is strong on aspiration but rather less detailed on how its ambitious targets can be achieved - and paid for. Local authorities will now be asked to formulate new proposals within the framework outlined in the policy paper. There are some non-specific references to greater private-sector involvement and a new system of waste charging.
All of these plans are laudable in themselves but it will be proven that firmer direction is required from central government. The new state-of-the-art landfill sites and a move towards incineration can help to improve the situation but this is only part of the battle. Citizens in most EU states - where there is a higher level of civic responsibility - dispose of their waste in an environmentally-friendly manner as a matter of course. The challenge here is not just to build and provide better dumping or recycling facilities; it is to alter personal behaviour and to make individual citizens more conscious of the need for responsible waste management.
There are comparisons here with road safety. The Government can exhort people to be responsible or it can severely penalise those who continue to disregard the common good. Mr Dempsey can set various target dates but most householders will only adopt a more responsible approach to waste management when some system of waste charging is introduced. Change will demand enforcement, either by monetary inducement or by a system of penalties. It is still too easy and too convenient to dispose of waste which could be recycled. But the days of dumping rubbish into a black plastic sack - and then turning a blind eye - will only be truly numbered when a tough waste charging system is in place.