Northern Ireland landfill rates lowest yet

Northern Ireland’s Department of the Environment (DOE) has released provisional statistics today (25 July) showing that for the final quarter of 2012/13, local authorities sent the lowest ever amount of municipal waste to landfill.

The provisional Northern Ireland Local Authority Collected (LAC) Municipal Waste Management Statistics January to March 2013 (based on returns made to WasteDataFlow) reveal that just over half (50.2 per cent or 105,785 tonnes) of all LAC municipal waste was sent to landfill in the final quarter of 2012/13, the lowest quarterly figure on record. This represents a nine per cent reduction on the proportion landfilled in the equivalent quarter the year before.

As well as decreasing landfill rates, the figures also show that the overall amount of municipal waste arisings decreased by around six per cent from the same quarter last year, falling from 223,376 to 210,728 tonnes.

Lower recycling rates

Despite the decrease in landfill, for the first time in recent years, the recycling and composting rate also fell, with figures coming in at one per cent lower than the same period in 2011/12 (36.4 per cent down from 35.4 per cent). According to DOE this was due to a ‘considerable fall of over one-fifth (22 per cent) in the amount of LAC municipal waste sent for composting during January to March when compared to the equivalent quarter in 2011/12’.

However, the majority of waste collected for recycling was compostable waste (29.5 per cent), with the second largest proportion being paper and card (26.6 per cent). The percentage of household waste recycled or composted was 36.1 per cent. This was a decrease of 1.8 percentage points on the rate from the corresponding period in the previous year.

Of all household waste collected over 25 per cent was recycled and under 11 per cent was composted. LAC municipal waste for Northern Ireland in this quarter was made up of 88 per cent (184,613 tonnes) household waste and around 12 per cent non-household waste.

Northern Ireland to see higher recycling targets

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan today welcomed the figures, saying: “This is the first time we have reached the point where as much of our waste doesn’t go to landfill, as goes to landfill. 

“I welcome also that the recycling rate for products that cannot be composted continue to increase. A partnership approach between councils, householders and my department is the only way forward to continue the good work which is still best summed up as reduce, reuse, recycle. 

“I intend to continue to progress both the environmental and economic benefits by setting ourselves higher recycling targets to make more use of our resources and open up new business opportunities. 

“As people embrace measures to reduce waste they benefit not only their local communities but also help address global climate change too, surely the best of both worlds.”

Northern Ireland waste collections are handled by three waste management groups: SWaMP2008 had the highest percentage of LAC municipal waste landfilled this quarter (56.4 per cent), followed by arc21 (51.4 per cent) and lastly, NWRWMG, which landfilled 42.1 per cent.

An annual report, with fully validated figures for 2012/13, will be published in November 2013. Corresponding statistics for England are expected to be released in August.

Read the ‘Northern Ireland Local Authority Collected Municipal Waste Management Statistics Report’.