Northern Ireland sees 8% drop in household waste

Household waste arisings in Northern Ireland dropped sharply in the first quarter of 2012/13, but the overall recycling and composting rate only marginally improved, with poor weather impacting on composting tonnages thought to be the cause.

These are among the headline findings of a report published by the Northern Irish government last week (October 25), based on waste collection data submitted by local authorities covering April to July.

The provisional findings show that a total of 209,196 tonnes of household waste was collected in Northern Ireland, down from 225,931 tonnes during the same period over the previous year, a fall of around 8%.

However, the findings show that there was only a small increase in the amount of household waste recycled or composted when compared to the previous year, with the recycling and composting rate reaching 42%, an improvement of around just half a percentage point.

While there was a slight increase in the amount of waste recycled overall, this was offset by a significant drop in the amount of household waste composted, which, according to the Department, is likely to be due to poor weather.

Meanwhile, 53.4% of all household waste collected by the councils was landfilled, a drop of 2.7 percentage points when compared to the corresponding period in 2011/12.

Municipal Waste

The data shows similar trends for local authority collected municipal waste, with waste arisings down, and the proportion of waste sent to landfill also falling. In total 238,178 tonnes of municipal waste was collected, a decrease of just over 7% during the first quarter of 2011/12.

Commenting on the results, Environment Minister Alex Atwood, said: The continued decreases in both waste generated by householders and that landfilled by the councils can only improve both our environmental and financial performance. It can send out the message that this part of the world has great clean credentials and that we should aim to be a world leader in carbon reduction.

I am also encouraged to see that the tonnage of household waste collected for recycling by the councils has continued its year-on-year increase. This was helped by my Departments Rethink Waste funding and will help us meet not only our short term programme for government targets but the statutory 60% recycling objective for 2020 which I am determined to see to fruition.

An annual report, containing fully validated figures for 2012/13, is due to be published in November 2013.