Local authorities (LAs) in Northern Ireland experienced a marginal increase in recycling rates in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year, as total waste arisings remained ‘steady’.

According to the provisional ‘Northern Ireland Local Authority Collected (LAC) Municipal Waste Management Statistics – January to March 2015’, published yesterday (23 July), LAs recycled and composted 36.8 per cent of their waste, compared to 36.5 per cent during the same period last year.

This amounts to 79,890 tonnes of LAC municipal waste being sent for recycling (including composting) between January and March 2015.

More compostable waste recycled in the winter ‘encouraging’ sign

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan welcomed the household recycling and composting rate of 37.6 per cent as this meant that an additional 1,351 tonnes of mostly compostable waste had been recycled.

Speaking of the figures, he said: “It is encouraging to see more compostable waste being recycled in the winter months. Hopefully it is a sign that more households are using local council organic collection services for food waste. Treatment of compostable and food waste can result in the production of energy and a high-quality compost converting a potential environmental cost into economic value.”

“Less than 50 per cent of household waste continued to be dumped in landfill, with an historical low 47.3 per cent for this quarter. However, the rate of this decrease has also dropped to a historic low of 0.1 per cent.”

He continued: “This quarter alone the landfill tax saved from increases in recycling was over £108,000; money that can now be put to better use for the local community. Individually and as households we can make a real difference through reducing waste and recycling that will improve the environment, society and economy.”

Detailed figure breakdown

Notably, the Southern Waste Management Partnership (SWaMP2008) had the highest dry recycling and composting rate at 38.2 per cent.

The North West Region Waste Management Group (NWRWMG) reported a ‘considerable decrease’ in dry recycling, which was partially offset by an increase in composting. The net effect was a drop in the combined rate of 1.3 per cent.

The two materials most commonly collected for recycling were compostable waste (25,172 tonnes) and paper and card (17,909 tonnes). Overall, there was an increase in the quantity of material collected for recycling of 4,739 tonnes (6.4 per cent) compared to the same quarter in 2014.

Waste arisings up slightly

Less then half (47.9 per cent) of LA waste was sent to landfill, marginally more than the same period last year (47.7 per cent). Nonetheless, this is the second consecutive year that the landfill rate has been below 50 per cent for the January to March quarter.

Total waste arisings collected January to March 2015 amounted to 216,886 tonnes compared to 215,994 tones for the same months in 2014, 88 per cent of which was household waste, a rise of 0.6 per cent from 189,406 to 190,591 tonnes on the previous year.

The NWRWMG had the lowest landfill rate at 40.5 per cent, an improvement of 0.5 per cent on the same period in 2014. SWaMP2008’s landfill rate was 45.7 per cent, slightly down from 46 per cent. Arc21’s rate increased from 50.8 to 51.4 per cent.

This was the eighth consecutive quarter-on-quarter increase in waste arisings, dating back to April to June 2013.

As for LAC biodegradable waste, 62,732 tonnes were sent to landfill, similar to the 62,497 in the same quarter last year. This represented 21.5 per cent of the 2014/15 Northern Ireland Landfill Allowance Scheme (NILAS) allocation, and was higher than the 20.4 per cent of the total 2013/14 allocation used during January to March 2014.

Read the full provisional ‘Northern Ireland Local Authority Collected (LAC) Municipal Waste Management Statistics – January to March 2015’.