This met the 2020 target of 50% Daera set in the Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy.
The tonnage of waste sent for recycling increased by 3.5% to reach a “record high” of 510,374 tonnes. The dry recycling rate remained the same as it was in 2018/19, with the composting rate increasing by 1.4%.
Daera added that the tonnages sent for dry recycling and composting increased by 0.8% and 6.8% respectively.
Waste arisings
Daera reported that overall, 998,985 tonnes of waste was collected by councils during 2019/20 which was 0.9% higher than the amount collected 2018/19.
Antrim & Newtownabbey council reported the largest increase in its waste arisings compared with last year, increasing by 4.1%.
Derry City & Strabane council also reported higher waste arisings compared with last year by 3.4%. Belfast city and Fermanagh & Omagh were the only councils to record decreases.
Household waste accounted for 88.2% of all waste collected during 2019/20.
Landfill
The landfill rate fell to a “new annual low” of 24% from 28.9% in 2018/19. Daera added that the landfill rate has continued to fall since 2006/7.
Similarly, the landfill rate for household waste has recorded a new low of 23.7% in 2019/20, a drop of 4.8 percentage points on the 2018/19 rate of 28.4%.
There was also 126,286 tonnes of biodegradable waste sent to landfill during 2019/20, which was 17.6% lower than the 153,323 tonnes sent in 2018/19 and also represents a lower proportion of the reduced annual allowance allocated to councils under the Northern Ireland Landfill Allowance Scheme (NILAS) in 2019/20.
Energy recovery
In 2019/20, 220,978 tonnes of waste arisings were sent for energy recovery, which gave an energy recovery rate of 22.1%, higher than the 19.4% recorded in 2018/19.
Daera said that there was zero, or very small quantities, of waste sent for energy recovery before 2009/10, and strong growth followed from 2010/11, with the energy recovery rate increasing from 0.4% in 2009/10 to 22.1% in 2019/20.
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