Repak has today warned that current projections forecast Ireland's plastic recycling rate will fall short of the 50% target by 2025 - as set out by the EU.
However, Repak's annual report shows that it surpassed all EU mandated recycling targets and delivered on all key compliance, communication and financial objectives for last year.
Today's report shows that Repak and Ireland achieved a recycling rate of 63% and a recovery rate of 95% in 2022.
Repak funded the recycling and recovery of 1,115,042 tonnes of packaging material, surpassing the one million tonnage mark for the fourth time.
A total of 759,149 tonnes were recycled last year - a 6% increase on 2021.
It noted that all key materials surpassed current EU recycling targets - glass at 85% passed the EU target of 60%, while paper/cardboard reached recycling rates of 75% compared to an EU target of 60%.
Plastic hit a rate of 33%, again above the EU target 22.5%, while wood came at at 66% compared to an EU target of 15% and metal reached 69% versus an EU target of 50%.
All materials, apart from plastic, are forecasted to hit the 2025 targets, Repak predicted.
Today's report also shows that the country's overall plastic recycling rate increased marginally from 31% in 2021 to 33% last year.
Total plastic tonnes recycled in 2022 increased by 7,600 from 2021 to 104,012 - marking the first time that plastic tonnes recycled in Ireland has broken the 100,000-tonnage mark.
Repak said it spent an additional €3.4m on recycling plastic tonnes last year.
Overall funding increased by 16% to €34m, which is said reflected increased volumes of packaging materials being recycled, and increased funding for plastic recycling in Ireland.
Meanwhile, the number of Repak members increased from 3,431 in 2021 to 3,481 last year.
CEO of Repak, Séamus Clancy said, that despite persistently demanding operational conditions last year, the Waste Packaging Recycling Sector demonstrated exceptional efficiency and unity, ensuring uninterrupted service.
But Mr Clancy said that meeting the 2025 plastic packaging recycling targets is going to be particularly challenging.
"We at Repak continue to implement EU Circular economy policies designed to achieve future recycling targets in a financially prudent and innovative manner," he said.
"Repak members more than pull their weight by funding the recycling of 100% of the packaging they generate in Ireland and an additional 58,649 (8%) tonnes from other producers. All stakeholders across the waste industry sector must continue to act in the national interest and re-double efforts to achieve 2025 and 2030 recycling targets," he added.
To close the plastic recycling gap, Repak has called on businesses to embrace best practice recycling process.
From July 1, businesses must legally have three bins at their commercial backdoor to help with proper segregation of their packaging. The proper use of these bins by all businesses will help close the gap.
"We're also calling for legislative changes: exporters need to be held responsible for 100% of the back door waste they generate and online retailers must start paying for the packaging they place on the Irish market," Mr Clancy said.
"Positive legislative changes which hold organisations accountable will improve plastic recycling rates in Ireland and help close the gap to our EU targets," he added.
