Environmental reform in Ireland's 'throwaway' society: moving beyond landfill

Chapter 5 tells the tale of Ireland’s battle with its ever-increasing levels of waste, or how a reform enabled Ireland to (slowly) move beyond its ‘strategy of last resort’ and shrug off its ‘throwaway culture’ label. The endurance of Ireland’s waste management reform is replete with twists and turns. Five years after it was enacted, the waste reform was fragile; its implementation bereft of momentum and its political endurance far from guaranteed. During these early years, the reform not only failed to cultivate new interests or stimulate new private sector activity, but it also failed to generate a broad constituency of support among Irish citizens. In fact, it did the opposite. It bred hostility and contempt across the areas of Ireland slated to obtain an incinerator or super dump. In such a hostile, fragmented, and uncertain environment, the endurance and sheer survival of the waste reform was on the line. Yet over time, and perhaps surprisingly so, the conditions leading to the instability of the reform began to turn around, allowing the waste management approach to become firmly entrenched.