Plastic is “without question the biggest environmental issues of our time and how we respond to it today will dictate our planet’s health in the future”, according to Séamus Clancy chief executive of Repak recycling company.

Ireland surpassed all EU waste packaging recycling and recovery targets in 2017 for the 20th year in a row, Repak figures published on Thursday in its annual report confirm, but faces new and much more demanding targets on recycling plastic, Mr Clancy said.

Over the past year, China – the single biggest global market for recycling plastic – shut its doors at a time Europe has limited capacity to recycle vast volumes of plastic bottles and hard plastic packaging, while many member states, including Ireland, have little or no capacity to recycle soft plastic items.

Against that backdrop, Mr Clancy said Repak will launch a national plastic strategy later this year.

“Repak is initiating the development of a national plastic recycling strategy to help Ireland reach its targets and achieve the new recycling targets set by the European Commission for 2025 and 2030,” he added.

This strategy would set out recommended measures for itself, its members and for all stakeholders including consumers. Its recommendations “will inform the national debate and, where appropriate, be part of the Irish Government’s response to circular economy packaging targets”, he said.

Mr Clancy added: “Today, we recycle 34 per cent of all plastics, ahead of our target 22.5 per cent. The new plastic recycling targets of 50 per cent by 2025 and 55 per cent by 2030 are ambitious, and Repak is working with all stakeholders including policy makers, producers, recovery operators and consumers to help Ireland achieve these targets in the future with the development of this plastic recycling strategy.”

Repak has begun a consultation produce with the parties, including Government departments and NGOs, on how best to achieve the targets, which will apply over a tight time-period, Tony O’Sullivan, Repak executive manager on strategy and policy, said. This was with a view to securing agreement on a roadmap that would feed into national policy.

Meeting the targets would require a wide range of actions including increased collection and recyling; reduce waste contamination and increased use of eco-design, he said.

Consumer education to reduce levels of contamination in green bins paid dividends and was a key factor in improved recycling rates achieved in 2017, the Repak report says.

It funded the recovery and recycling of 817,888 tonnes of packaging waste in 2017; an increase of 23,040 tonnes from 2016 and the highest volume of recycling ever recorded in Ireland. In total, 620,380 tonnes were recycled in 2017, up 26,389 tonnes on 2016.

Materials sent for recovery reduced by 3,349 to 197,508 tonnes, “demonstrating the impact of positive recycling behaviour”. Household recycling increased by 11,999 tonnes (4.6 per cent) to 268,118 and commercial recycling increased by 14,390 (4.3 per cent) to 352,000 tonnes.

The State supported not-for-profit scheme delivered a 69 per cent recycling rate and 94 per cent recovery rate.

“A 4 per cent increase in recycling rates across all materials and market segments is a significant achievement that our members and the public should be very proud of,” Mr Clancy said. “This marked increase in recycling rates for the commercial sector and households nationwide, is a testament to the hard work and commitment to the environment by both our members and the public.”

Recycling levels across all material categories – plastic, glass, paper, metals and wood – were ahead of EU targets. “We are not only increasing our recycling rates, but in a sustainable way across all materials,” he said.