Fluctuating Waste Figures Raise Red Flags

The Numbers Don’t Add Up 

2012: Ireland generated approximately 9 million tonnes of C&D waste.

2021: The country reported 9 million tonnes of C&D waste again.
2022: This number dropped to 8.3 million tonnes, with soil and stones making up 85% of this waste.

But if the construction industry is growing, why did waste figures suddenly drop? And more importantly, what happened to the missing waste?

In 2022, Ireland generated 8.3 million tonnes of construction and demolition (C&D) waste, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Of this, 85% was soil and stones.

This means the vast majority of recorded construction waste consists of just one material type.

This statistic is further supported by reports from LetsRecycle.com, which highlight that half of all waste generated in Ireland comes from the construction sector, with soil and stones accounting for 85% of it.

But this raises a crucial question: What happened to the rest of the materials—concrete, bricks, timber, plastics, and metals?

Discrepancies That Cannot Be Ignored

Where is the Rest of the Waste?

• If soil and stones make up the vast majority of reported waste, then what happened to the significant volumes of concrete, bricks, and metals that construction projects generate?

• Are they being properly recovered and reused, or are they simply not being tracked accurately?

Misreporting and Data Gaps

• Without a digital, verifiable tracking system, materials can be misclassified or omitted entirely.

• Construction waste should be a valuable resource, but without transparency, how do we know how much is actually being reused?

Illegal Dumping—A Hidden Problem?

• Authorities continue to uncover unauthorised dumping sites, but without digital tracking, do we even know the full scale of the issue?

• Are missing materials part of this problem, or is the lack of real-time reporting creating blind spots in the system?

Paper-Based Tracking Lets Waste “Disappear”

• Paper dockets are outdated, unreliable, and easily manipulated.

• With no real-time verification, how can we be sure waste isn’t being under-reported, falsely categorised, or lost in the system?

If We Can’t Track It, We Can’t Regulate It

The reality is simple: if we don’t have full visibility over construction waste, we can’t ensure proper reuse, sustainability, or compliance with circular economy goals.

Ireland’s circular economy targets depend on real data—not estimates.
Digital tracking is the only way to ensure accurate, verifiable records of waste movement and reuse.
Without change, we will continue to lose millions of tonnes of materials to landfill or illegal dumping—wasting resources and harming the environment.

The solution exists. Real-time digital tracking can fix this problem today.

So why are we still relying on outdated, unreliable paper systems?

#WasteTracking #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #ConstructionWaste #DigitalTransformation