Ireland’s move towards C I r C ular eC onomy

The circular economy aims to reduce waste at all stages of the economic cycle and ensure materials are used as efficiently as possible. Waste prevention, a central concept of the circular economy, challenges us to review our existing design, production, distribution and consumption of products. This will move us from the current linear model of Take > Make > Use > Dispose to a more efficient and low-carbon economy.

Ireland is at a critical juncture in its journey towards a Circular Economy, and the packaging industry can play its part.

Ireland’s Circular Economy Programme (2021 to 2027) is the driving force for the country’s move to a circular economy. The vision for the Programme, which is led by the EPA, is an Ireland where the circular economy ensures that everyone uses less resources and prevents waste to achieve sustainable economic growth.

The Circular Economy Programme is the driving force for Ireland’s move to a circular economy, where businesses, citizens and the public sector reduce resource use, prevent waste and achieve sustainable economic growth. The programme incorporates and builds on the previous National Waste Prevention Programme to support national-level, strategic programmes.

The EPA-led Circular Economy Programme supports the whole of government Circular Economy Strategy to provide leadership and co-ordinate circular economy activity to ensure maximum impact at national, regional and local level.

The EPA’s Circular Economy Programme has been devised to support the Government’s Circular Economy Strategy and is a reconfiguration of Ireland’s National Waste Prevention Programme. At EU level, the European Green Deal includes a Circular Economy Action Plan, with a focus on sustainability and turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities.

Ireland’s Circular Economy Programme aims to provide leadership to ensure alignment of national, regional and local circular economy activities. It will maintain a competitive programme of innovation grants and seed-funding to support circular economy initiatives.

to create energy instead of disposal to landfill.

Distribution

Centre estimated that a 5% increase in resource efficiency would result in annual savings of €2.3 billion for the Irish economy.

CHALLENGES

The circular economy aims to reduce waste at all stages of the economic cycle and ensure materials are used as efficiently as possible. Waste prevention, a central concept of the circular economy, challenges us to review our existing design, production, distribution and consumption of products. This will move us from the current linear model of Take > Make > Use > Dispose to a more efficient and low-carbon economy.

OVER 100 million tonnes of materials are used annually in Ireland’s economy

According to a recent OECD report, Ireland is at a turning point in its transition towards the circular economy. With a circular material use rate of just 2% in 2020 (relative to an EU average of 12.8%), Ireland has significant scope for progress, according to the OECD. recycling rates for municipal solid waste for the past five years have stagnated at around 40% (compared to EU recycling targets of 55% by 2025) and waste generation has been increasing since the recovery from the 2008 economic crisis.

Major events such as Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic have focused the minds of policy-makers and industry on resource efficiency and supply chains, while rising energy costs, particularly in the wake of the ongoing war in Ukraine, continue to drive momentum for greater energy efficiency.

Inefficient consumption and missed opportunities for reuse and recycling lead to high waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions. Waste generation in Ireland continues to be closely linked to economic activity indicating limited progress towards a circular economy. By preventing waste and driving the circular economy we can make the most of our resources while protecting the environment.

OPPORTUNITIES

Food Waste

However, the circular economy goes beyond the management of waste. The focus is on reducing the amount of raw materials we use and maximising the value of materials along the production and consumption chain. Waste is recycled where possible and brought back into production processes. Otherwise it is used

We waste over 1 million tonnes of food every year

Construction & Demolition

Preventing waste, repairing, reusing and recycling holds great promise for the Irish economy in terms of job creation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and environmental sustainability. As far back as 2014, the Clean Technology

Millions of tonnes of resources could be recovered every year avoiding demand for virgin raw materials and reducing the carbon footprint of construction

The Irish public sector spends over

In 2021, around one-third of the €10 billion investment envelope in Ireland’s State Budget was allocated to sustainable transport and water infrastructure, energy efficiency and renewables, landfill remediation and peatland rehabilitation, the OECD report reveals. It also predicts that demographic changes, urbanisation patterns and climate change will play a role in the future of resources management in the country.

each year. By implementing Green Public Procurement, there’s an opportunity to reduce the environmental footprint of purchases made with public money.

The OECD report recognises that Ireland has made some progress on Circular Economy initiatives in the past, citing the plastic bag levy and the reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill, from 80% of municipal waste in 2002 to just over 10% in 2018.

Ireland’s circular economy policy needs to overcome three main obstacles, according to the OECD. First, it argues that Ireland has a sectoral view of the circular economy, mainly based on waste, rather than a broader view of resource management and a holistic approach to leverage the circular economy as a cross-sectoral driver of economic growth, job creation, social well-being and environmental protection. Secondly, Ireland’s current approach tends to focus on recycling and recovery rather than preventing, repairing and reusing. Thirdly, the OECD report argues that there is a lack of place-based considerations, as consolidating three regional Waste Management Plans into a single National Waste Management Plan for a Circular Economy may fail to account for local specificities, such as differences in economic activities, income, population density and access to services.

The OECD makes a number of recommendations for the successful implementation of a circular economy strategy in Ireland, including raising awareness of and building trust in the circular economy through a national online platform, targeted communication campaigns, and incentives for behavioural change, such as certificates, labels and nudging.

Obviously, packaging plays a big part in the circular economy and in Ireland reaching its goals. A Bord Bia Origin Green document from 2021 (Packaging Target Guidance - Pathways to the Circular Economy) advised companies on how to improve the environmental credentials of their packaging relative to the circular economy, identifying the Packaging Hierarchy, a framework for prioritising the most preferable options for management to identify and evaluate opportunities for improvement.

It asks questions of the brand owner and/or packaging provider, such as whether one or more layers could be combined without loss of function? Can you use a renewable or fully recycled material, or an an alternative material which has similar properties but higher potential for recovery or reuse? Can the amount of packaging required be reduced without loss of function? Can you introduce a reusable or returnable alternative to single use packaging?

The same document sets some recommended target initiatives. These include reducing the complexity of packaging placed on the market, perhaps redesigning the packaging to reduce the number of materials used while maintaining product protection and quality levels or reducing or removing the amount of sealants and adhesives used on secondary and tertiary packaging. Another suggestion is the removal of separate labels; introducing direct print to remove adhesive labels, which are considered a contaminant. Another target initiative suggests reducing the amount of virgin material used to make packaging, sourcing packaging with increased quantities of certified recycled materials.

It also provides advice on how to reduce the amount of material wastage in the packaging process, including optimising packaging size and shape to reduce offcut, trimmings, etc., and the gluing process (introduce hot melt stabilisation to glue lines to reduce quality defects).

Over 100 million tonnes of materials are used annually in Ireland’s economy, according to the EPA. Inefficient consumption and missed opportunities for reuse and recycling lead to high waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions, the EPA argue, noting how less than a third of plastic packaging is currently recycled.

Waste generation in Ireland continues to be closely linked to economic activity, indicating limited progress towards a circular economy. By preventing waste and driving the circular economy we can make the most of our resources while protecting the environment.

The EPA-led Circular Economy Programme supports the whole of government Circular Economy Strategy to provide leadership and co-ordinate circular economy activity to ensure maximum impact at national, regional and local level. They are keen to stress that they have opportunities for innovation funding, networking and partnering through their priority areas, including packaging, plastics, textiles, food, water and nutrients. Visit epa.ie for more information.

DAVID Ogilvy, the advertising guru and founder of Ogilvy & Mather, famously said: “You cannot bore people into buying your product; you can only interest them in buying it.”

The successful retailer will be familiar with the alchemy employed to spark the purchaser’s ‘interest’ and will likely have this in mind when selecting products for sale; perhaps targeting products whose standout appeal comes from the attractive power of brand familiarity, or those whose allure is driven by shape, colour or texture, or products easily promoted by a persuasive underlying story. These are all familiar tools in the sales and marketing magic box, each harnessed to engage interest in the product offering and hopefully commit the consumer to purchase.

In today’s multiple-choice market, where we are confronted with an infinite sea of similar type and priced products, each jostling and competing for attention, often one of the most effective ways of differentiating between offerings is using aesthetics. In this context, a visual design element is one of the significant factors that influences consumer perceptions.

Take, for example, purely functional products. Functionality is a difficult sell in a crowded market, where expectation of function satisfaction is usually taken as a given. At the end of the day, a squeezable bottle of washing detergent holds detergent, a toothbrush cleans your teeth, and scissors cut paper. When confronted with offerings to satisfy largely functional needs and where price is less of a factor, as consumers, our product purchasing choices are typically driven by other nonfunctional considerations such as shape, colour, pattern, texture or size over our expectation of product performance. This is particularly the case with luxury items.

Consider the last time you removed a quality bottle of wine from its clean, precision cut gift-box or slid open a tray of chocolate truffles from its presentation chest. How did it feel? Was the unboxing a sensual event and perhaps you even smiled during the revelatory process? And of course, everything about this introductory experience is intentional and design-led. Aesthetics can make a product seem more trustworthy and thereby enhance the expectation of quality, which are major selling points in any marketplace. It is well recognised that consumers tend to make decisions based on reliability and trust, so you need to make them feel that in choosing a product they have placed their faith in responsible, intelligent hands. This is where good designers and marketers can work together to better assess what consumers are responding to and, if necessary, rebrand or redesign the product or its packaging.

A recognisable design not only enhances product identity but, importantly, it can be protected as intellectual property. For the uninitiated, design rights comprise a separate body of intellectual property rights to copyright or trademarks. In essence,