Experts warn Ireland will miss EU targets

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says that Ireland is likely to send more waste to landfill despite there being environmental policies in place.

Figures from the ESRI suggest that 80% of household waste is going to landfill and EU targets will be missed if recycling rates across Ireland do not improve.

It has warned that new policies were needed to bridge the “substantial gap” between the “ambition policy makers and reality”, reports The Irish Independent.

The ESRI told the newspaper that the amount of waste will increase as the population grows and gets richer and meeting carbon emission targets will prove “extremely difficult” to achieve.

“For waste, there is a discrepancy between the stated ambitions of government and the policies in place,” it said.

The ESRI is a leading research centre in social sciences which focuses on economic and social change in Ireland.