Domestic Waste Management in Ireland - the Journey Towards Financialization

Successive Irish government policies followed a neoliberal approach and domestic waste services have been transformed to such an extent that in early 2021, one company was valued at over €1 billion. The last three decades has seen domestic waste services in the Ireland evolve from a public service to one delivered entirely by the private sector. The journey to this system has had many policy twists and the outcome of the journey is a domestic waste market, with some very large and profitable companies. This paper examines policy changes over time, outlining how Ireland's domestic waste services became financialized.