MyWaste.ie has announced that “householders can now place all plastic packaging into the household recycling bin – once it is clean dry and loose. This includes both soft and rigid plastics everything from a plastic bottle to the plastic film on fruit packs!”

This is a welcome development, as currently in Ireland we recycle less than one third of all our of plastic packaging. A big percentage of our plastic waste now ends up in the general household bin, and unless this plastic packaging is collected and separated, it will never be recycled. Collecting soft and rigid plastics in the household recycling bin is a big step towards separating available recyclable plastics that are currently being sent to landfill and energy recovery.

2018 Irish data show us that of the 264,000 tonnes of plastic packaging generated, we only recycled 82,000.  To achieve targets for plastics of 50% by 2025, and 55% by 2030, the recycling of plastics in Ireland will have to increase.

https://www.mywaste.ie/great-news/

It is important to remind apartment residents that Dry/Mixed Recycling should not be placed in black sacks before going into the 1100L bins. The recycling company cannot judge if a black sack contains non-recyclable material. They will treat the bin as contaminated and refuse to collect it.