"The choice is clear - either we stop burying our waste or it will bury us," Martin Cullen T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government said today (Wednesday 15th October 2003).

The Minister was speaking at the launch of his Department's Race Against Waste national awareness campaign. Cullen challenged Irish people to join the Race Against Waste at home and at work, to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill and to recycle more.

"The Race Against Waste campaign aims to put the brakes on current waste trends. The stakes could hardly be higher for our environment, our economy, the industries we want to attract to Ireland and the tourists we want to come here," said Minister Cullen.

"The time for action is now. It is not enough to always blame someone else. I can invest every cent of taxpayers' money in waste facilities, but that alone will not solve the problem. Ireland is facing a waste crisis. Those that claim to be pro-environment, but refuse to do anything to help offer nothing. Everybody has got to make their contribution".

The Race Against Waste TV advertisements can only be broadcast after 9pm at night due to the imagery used. Commenting on this, the Minister said: "The ads are deliberately shocking to bring the scale of the waste problem home to the viewer".

The Minister outlined the scale of Ireland's waste challenge.

"Every person in Ireland is producing 700kg of household and commercial waste each year – that is three times more than they do in the Netherlands," he said. "If this continues, the figure will rise to two tonnes per person by 2015. Landfills in six out of the ten regions in the country, including Dublin, have less than three years capacity left."

"Failing to act means the waste mountain will be bigger, environmental problems will be bigger and the cost to you, the taxpayer will be bigger".

The Race Against Waste national awareness and communications campaign aims to get people to act to prevent waste in the first place and deals starkly with the consequences of failing to do so. It aims to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill - almost 2 million tonnes of household and commercial/trade waste in 2001.

The Race Against Waste comprises a national advertising campaign across all media and a national, regional and local information campaign. The campaign will address the many misconceptions people have about waste and aims to reach the greatest possible number of people.

This unique campaign, focusing solely on waste is a very ambitious one and comes at a time when the vast majority of people - 89% - are in favour of the Government encouraging people to recycle more.

"It emphasises businesses as well as communities as the producers of the majority of waste and it asks people to reduce the amount of waste that they generate each day," said Minister Cullen.

The advertisements will show people at home and at work how taking simple initiatives can greatly reduce the waste they generate.

Examples such as photocopying both sides of the paper at work or buying loose fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packed produce are presented. The communications campaign will work with the existing stakeholders involved in waste, tackling misconceptions people have about the issue.

Concluding, the Minister said: "Progress is being made. 35% of households now segregate their waste. Government policy, through a weight or volume based bin charging system will reward those who produce less waste."

"But the head in the sand approach cannot continue. It is reckless. It costs jobs, it costs investment, it costs communities. So we must change. My intention is to lead that change".

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Note for Editors

€3.5m from the Environment Fund, the revenues collected from the plastic bag and landfill levies, will be spent over the coming year on the Race Against Waste. Initiatives include:-

· Strong, creative, high quality advertising/media campaign for TV, Radio, Press and Outdoor focusing exclusively on waste and the need for people at home and at work to reduce, re-use, recycle and compost. This campaign is being executed and managed by McCann Erickson Belfast, public awareness specialists whose award winning road safety campaigns have been very effective and have much experience of direct involvement in a range of hard-hitting awareness-raising campaigns.