New app will help reduce waste

CORK PRODUCES ENOUGH SINGLE-USE WASTE EACH YEAR TO FILL 730 OLYMPIC POOLS

AN eye-opening study into the volume of single-use plastics has found that Cork households generate enough waste each year to fill 730 Olympic-size swimming pools.

The survey, undertaken by Irish start-up company CUSP (Cease Using Single-Use Plastic) has also identified hotspots around Cork that generate the most amount of waste each year – with Ballincollig being one of the worst offending areas.

The study was released in conjunction with the launch of a new app that CUSP founder, Roscommon-based entrepreneur Simon Ruddy, claimed has the potential to substantially reduce the enormous volumes of single-use plastic waste generated annually.

“Cork households generate a combined 32,900 tonnes of single-use plastic packing waster annually. That’s enough to fill 730 Olympic-size swimming pools,” said Mr Ruddy.

A table compiled by CUSP highlighted the 16 worst offending Cork towns and city districts, which Mr Ruddy said cumulatively generate almost one-third of the annual “single-use plastic waste pile.”

The table showed that three of the areas listed each generated more than 1,000 tonnes of waste annually, with Douglas topping the list at 1,630 tonne, Glanmire second at 1,210 tonnes and Ballincollig third on the list at 1,130 tonnes.

Mallow came seventh on the list at 755 tonnes, Fermoy tenth at 399 tonnes and Blarney/Tower 11th at 364 tonnes.

Mr Ruddy said that in order to achieve the goal of a 70% reduction in single-use plastic by 2030 set out in the Government’s Climate Action Plan, Cork needs to reduce its total to 9,900 tonnes, an annual reduction of 2,300 tonnes.

However, he said that research carried out by CUSP found that people were being put off trying to reduce their waste by what he described as the “continuous reporting of the crisis in terms of millions of tonnes”.

“This leaves people wondering ‘ what’s the point trying to reduce waste, my small contribution is hardly going to make a difference’”, said Mr Ruddy.

“CUSP takes these big global numbers, the ‘millions of tonnes’ we read about frequently and distils them down into smaller bite-sized reduction targets that community groups and households can more easily relate to. That is why we have compiled list like the one for Cork for each county.”

He said that in order to achieve the 2030 target, Cork householders can help by reducing just 1kg of waste each month from the current monthly average of 14kg. To put this into context, 1kg of plastic waste is the equivalent of 18 empty two-litre plastic drinks bottles.

Mr Ruddy said the CUSP app, which is free to download for both android and iOS devices by searching ‘CUSP: Single-Use Plastic Calc’ will allow people to gauge how much waste they produce and reduce it accordingly.

“Participants don’t need to worry about calculations or conversions to kilograms - the app takes care of all that. Users simply tap-in their estimated number of units on day one for 22 of the more common items of single-use plastic packaging found in Irish homes listed in the app,” he said.

“After 30 days and following CUSP’s hints and tips for reducing, users simply tap-in their new reduced volumes to see if they’ve hit that 1kg reduction. It takes less than 10 minutes.”

Mr Ruddy said the app had been piloted among 200 users in Connaught earlier this year, with participating households achieving average monthly reductions of 2.5kgs.

“This was more than twice the 1kg reduction requited to hit the 2030 target. If this was replicated in Cork, would hit that target by 2026,” he concluded.