New statistics for the second quarter of 2014/15 show that, for the first time, local authorities (LAs) in Northern Ireland sent more waste for recycling and composting than they did to landfill.

The provisional ‘Northern Ireland Local Authority Collected Municipal Waste Management Statistics: April - June 2014’, published today (23 October), show that LAs collected 257,614 tonnes of municipal waste in the summer months (an increase of 6.7 per cent on the same quarter last year, when 241,381 tonnes were collected).

Of this, councils sent 105,470 tonnes of municipal waste to landfill (eight per cent less than the same quarter last year and 10.3 per cent by tonnage) and 114,546 tonnes for recycling or composting - 40.9 per cent and 44.5 per cent, respectively - making it the first time more waste has been recycled and composted than sent to landfill.

According to the report, the notable drop in the amount of waste sent to landfill could be due to a change in the way in which councils handle the residual waste collected. Instead of sending it straight to landfill, ‘dirty’ material recovery facilities (MRFs) – those that sort recyclables from general waste – are becoming more popular as a way of capturing more recyclable material from residual waste. This material can also be sent for energy recovery by turning it into refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

Rise in composting and fall in recycling

On top of this, the amount of municipal waste recycled and composted increased by 2.4 per cent on the previous year, rising to 44.5 per cent.

However, although the composting rate rose by 3.6 percentage points (from 19.1 per cent in April to June 2013), the dry recycling rate dropped by 1.2 percentage points (from 23.0 per cent last year).

According to the Department for Environment, this increase in composting could, in part, be due to a warmer/drier April to June this year (with 40mm less rainfall and warmer minimum/maximum temperatures (up two degress and one degree Celsius respectively). There was no explanation as to why recycling had dropped.

In total, LAs sent 53,996 tonnes of biodegradable LAC municipal waste to landfill, 15.6 per cent less than the year before. This equated to 18.5 per cent of the annual allocation.

Household waste

The patterns for household waste were largely the same as that for LAC waste as a whole.

The amount of household waste sent to landfill fell by 8.1 per cent to 40.2 per cent, compared with last year, despite overall household waste arisings rising for the second year running (by 6.7 per cent to 226,618 tonnes).

Like LAC waste, the amount of household waste sent for composting and recycling increased (to 45.2 per cent). Again, this was largely due to the general rise in composting, which saw householders place four per cent more waste in composting bins than they did the year before.

The proportion of household waste sent for recycling was 19.7 per cent, falling by 1.5 per cent on the same quarter last year.

The majority of household recycling comprised of paper and card (56.9 per cent was captured for recycling), while only 1.4 per cent of Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment was captured. The capture rates for organic/compostable and glass waste saw notable improvements when compared with the same quarter of the previous year, rising by 5.7 and 3.9 percentage points respectively.

“We have finally turned the corner”

Commenting on the figures, Environment Minister Mark H Durkan, said: “It is good to see that we have finally turned the corner when it comes to making use of our resources. Rather than burying them in the ground, we are finding new ways to recover some of their value.

“Less landfill means lower rates being spent on landfill tax and less impact on the environment from lower emissions of greenhouse gases. I would encourage everyone to keep up the good work to reduce, re-use and recycle.”

The data in the report is based on returns made to WasteDataFlow, a web based system, used by all UK local authorities to report LAC municipal waste.

Read the provisional waste statistics for April to June 2014.