EPA National Criteria to Help Reduce Construction Waste

Date released: August 28, 2024

  • Construction waste is Ireland’s largest waste stream with over 9 million tonnes generated annually.
  • Over 80 per cent of construction waste is soil and stone. 
  • Excavated clean soil and stone is a valuable resource which is better reused in other projects. 
  • The EPA’s new National By-product Criteria provide rules for the safe reuse of greenfield soil and stone and prevents it becoming a waste.

29 August 2024: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published National By-Product Criteria for Greenfield Soil and Stone. 

These criteria allow for the classification of greenfield soil and stone as a by-product, meaning the material does not become waste. Keeping materials in use is one of the fundamental elements of a circular economy and enable useful soil and stone materials from one site to potentially be reused for landscaping, reprofiling of land and other similar uses.

Commenting on the criteria, David Flynn, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Sustainability, said:

“Construction is the largest generator of waste in our country, in the region of 9 million tonnes annually with the bulk of this being soil and stone waste. Embracing new approaches to design, materials choice and modern methods of construction will shift the sector onto a more sustainable path.

Today, the EPA is streamlining the regulation of construction materials to promote the reuse of useful soil and stone that would traditionally end up as a waste. This opens up more opportunities for safe reuse, and offers greater regulatory certainty to the industry and stakeholders while ensuring appropriate safeguards remain in place.”

The European Waste Framework Directive puts a priority on construction and demolition waste.  Construction activity comes at an environmental cost, putting pressure on our natural resources, biodiversity, and generating significant waste quantities. The scale of wasted resources and materials in the construction sector needs urgent attention.  

Warren Phelan, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Circular Economy Programme noted: 

“These criteria present a real and meaningful opportunity for the construction sector to follow a simple set of rules and in doing so reduce soil waste from sites     and make tangible savings. These latest criteria are the third in a series of national decisions introduced by the EPA to support improved material circularity in the construction sector”.

Further information on the national by-product criteria and other initiatives of the circular economy programme are available on the EPA website. 

Further information: Emily Williamson, EPA Media Relations Office: 053-91 70770 (24 hours) and media@epa.ie

Notes to Editor

  • National statistics produced by the EPA show Ireland generates significant volumes of construction and demolition wastes, amounting to 9 million tonnes in 2021. Including extracted mineral wastes, such as rock and stone, which are similar in nature, the total increases to 11.9million tonnes, representing 66 per cent of total waste generated in Ireland.
  • Construction waste has grown from 3 million tonnes in 2013 to over 9million tonnes in 2021, a 300 per cent increase in just 8 years.
  • Soil and stone makes up over 80 per cent. Most of this comes from greenfield sites developed for new housing, buildings and infrastructure.
  • The EPA is the competent authority with regard to making decisions on by-product status. 
  • A by-product is a substance or object, resulting from a production process, the primary aim of which is not the production of that item. By-product sits within the top tier “prevention” of the waste hierarchy. By-products are never considered waste. The greenfield soil and stone excavated in the course of development works is a by-product of that process, if the national criteria are fulfilled. 
  • The national by-product criteria for greenfield soil and stone is the third national criteria published by the EPA relating to construction materials. The two previous criteria published are as follows:

National end-of-waste criteria for recycled aggregates (Published October 2023), apply to aggregates recycled from construction and demolition waste, including soil and stone, concrete, bricks and ceramics. Further information in relation to end-of-waste is available on the EPA website.

National by-product criteria for site-won asphalt (Published November 2023), apply to site-won asphalt (road planings) for use as a raw material in Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) plants for the manufacture of bituminous mixtures. Further information in relation to by-products is available on the EPA website. 

  • The published national criteria serve to meet the following targets set out in the 2021, Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy:
    • Streamline the by-product notification and decision-making process. This will encourage greater use of the process by industry and assist in meeting Ireland’s waste reduction targets, through the prevention of waste generation. This will also reduce pressure on waste disposal and recovery infrastructure.
    • Obtain by-product status for a number of priority waste streams, particularly in the C&D sector.
  • Circular economy: A circular economy is one where materials are recirculated and used again and again, and waste is minimised or prevented. To facilitate the move to a more circular economy, the European Commission put forward a Circular Economy Package in December 2015, which includes revised legislative proposals on waste, as well as a comprehensive Action Plan. The Irish Government published a new national waste policy, A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, in September 2021
  • Greenfield soil and stone means soil and stone from land that has not been previously developed and is not contaminated soil and stone.