It is estimated that nearly 30% more waste will be generated over the Christmas period than the rest of the year.
The warning comes from Repak and the country's local authorities who will launch a new 'Green Christmas' campaign later today in order to increase recycling rates and help people save money.
420,000 Christmas trees are expected to be sold this festive period, so it is easy to understand that a waste problem is looming.
To help out, Repak and local authorities are to open 90 additional recycling centres around the country, with long opening hours, in the hope of recycling an additional 24,000 tonnes of material.
It is not just about helping the environment because a new survey has found that householders will have to pay as much as €34 in additional bin charges if they dump rather than recycle; the national bill would be €44 million.
This year's campaign, which will run until 7 January, will be particularly focused on men as the survey results also found that women are over a third more likely to recycle than men.
