An article expressing Ireland's interest to move up the recycling ladder. Dick Roche, Minister for the environment said "I want to make Ireland a recycling society, I'm pleased with the results but want us to move from the middle to the top of the class." He was speaking at the Recycling Consultative Forum at the beginning of the year. "We need to deal with modern production, consumption and lifestyle choices in our approach to waste management, This is the reality." "We need to craft new solutions but the issues are diverse and complex." The country has moved from a 9% recycling figure in 1997, to 35% in 2005. These figures are expected to keep rising. This article also contains figures for the impact of recycling on the climate (2003 figures).