The provisional statistics for July to September 2022 were published in a report by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) on 2 February.
The data shows that Northern Ireland’s councils collected 249,575 tonnes of waste in this period, a 9.5% decrease compared to July to September 2021.It outlined that the factors affecting the overall volumes included individual household behaviours, the advice and collection services provided by councils, the state of the economy and weather conditions.
Daera highlighted that the council-collected waste sent to landfill amounted to 22.8%, which was 0.9% lower than the landfill rate of the previous year. It also noted that, in July to September 2006, this rate was at 71.8%.
Other methods of treatment included energy recovery, which almost a quarter (24.4%) of waste arisings was sent for, the report noted. This represents an increase from the 21.7% reported in July to September 2021. From a more long-term perspective, the report pointed out that in July to September 2009, the recorded energy recovery rates were 0.1%.
Household waste
Household waste accounted for 86.5% of all local authority-collected waste during this period. The remaining 13.5% was non-household waste such as rubble or soil and commercial or industrial waste.
The recycling rate for household waste was 52.9% in July to September 2022, “similar to the rate” recorded during the same quarter of 2021, the report said. The landfill rate for household waste was 21.8%, which was lower than the landfill rate of 23.5% recorded in July to September 2021, it added.
The document stated that since 2006/07, household waste has accounted for between 86 and 90% of total waste collected by councils each quarter, with the exception of April to June 2020, “when Covid-19 restrictions resulted in a larger than normal proportion of household waste being collected.”
According to the statistics, all 11 councils in Northern Ireland reported a decrease in total arisings in July to September 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. And, the total quantity of waste collected at the kerbside and civic amenity sites also fell by 12.4% and 7% respectively in comparison to the previous year, the report said.
Recycling
There were 128,624 tonnes of local authority-collected municipal waste sent for recycling between July to September 2022, the document outlined. It added that this produced a recycling rate of 51.5%, which was lower than 52.3% of waste sent for recycling in the same quarter of 2021.
There were 56,890 tonnes of local authority-collected municipal waste sent to landfill between July to September 2022, representing a decrease of 13% compared to the same period in 2021, the data outlined.
This resulted in 22.8% of all local authority-collected municipal waste landfilled in the third quarter of 2022, lower than the 23.7% recorded during the same quarter of 2021.
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