Northern Ireland hits landfill targets early

However, landfill remains the main waste disposal option for the country with 58% of local authority collected municipal waste (LACMW) sent to landfill in 2011/12.

The findings were unveiled in the 2011/12 NI Local Authority Collected (LAC) Municipal Waste Management Statistics Annual Report which was published on Thursday (November 29). The report covers 12 indicators including local authority collected municipal waste, household waste and biodegradable municipal waste.

The report shows that in 2011/12 Northern Ireland sent 309,792 tonnes of biodegradable LACMW to landfill over 10,000 tonnes less than the NI Landfill Allowance Scheme (LAS) target of 320,000 tonnes for 2012/13. Councils have allocated allowances under the LAS to ensure they do not exceed EU targets under the Landfill Directive for the amount to biodegradable waste sent to landfill.

In addition, the report notes approximately a 40,000 tonne drop in the amount biodegradable LACMW sent to landfill from 2010/11 to 2011/12.

As well as a reduction in the amount of waste to landfill, the countrys recycling rate increased in 2011/12 to 38.4% with 364,342 tonnes of LACMW sent for recycling and composting. Northern Irelands household waste recycling and composting rate also increased to 39.7% meaning it is on track to meet its target of recycling 40% by 2015 which was detailed in its Waste Management Strategy.

Other key points in the report include:

• A 4% reduction in the amount of LACMW arising in 2011/12 to 949,491;
• Compostable waste (43%) and paper and card (23%) were the most common types of material sent for recycling;
• A marked decrease in the amount of LACMW sent to landfill over the last decade from 91% in 2002 to 58% in 2011/12; and,
• A 13% decrease in the amount of household waste generated per capita from 2002.

Councils

Looking at the individual councils, Magherafelt district council had the highest proportion of household waste sent for recycling and composting at 60.2%. The gap between Magherafelt and the second highest recycling council is over eight percentage points with Banbridge district council achieving a recycling rate of 52%.

Belfast and Derry city councils were at the bottom of the table with 32% and 29% recycling rates, respectively.

Of the three waste management groups in Northern Ireland arc 21, NWRWMG, and SWaMP2008 – SWaMP2008 was the best performing group in terms of the proportion on LACMW it recycles with a 40.5% recycling rate. NWRWMG and arc 21 achieved 37.3% and 37.7% recycling rates respectively.

Major achievement

The figures were welcomed by Northern Irelands Environment Minister Alex Attwood who congratulated councils on the major achievement.

Commenting on the drop in waste to landfill, he said: It is particularly heartening to see household waste reduction leading the way as this is much more effective than anything else we can do. The success of the recent European Week for Waste Reduction, supported by several local councils, has continued to reinforce the idea that prevention is better than cure.

Landfilling waste is simply a lost opportunity – we cannot afford to throw away valuable resources. How we tackle these and other issues are raised in the Departments on-going consultation on the draft revised Waste Management Strategy (Delivering Resource Efficiency). What does this mean? Only 30% of plastics generated in Ireland are recycled and of this, only 30% is recycled in Ireland. We can recycle more plastics and we can do so on this island. This is the green agenda with green jobs.