The Northern Irish Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) recently published its provisional waste management statistics for local authority collections between April and June of this year.
According to the report, Northern Ireland’s councils collected 284,771 tonnes of waste during the period, a 20.4 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. It should be noted, however, that measures such as the closure of civic amenity sites were introduced between April and June 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the report attributing the increase to these circumstances.
Between April and June of this year, the report notes, 52.1 per cent of waste collected by councils was sent for recycling, this figure being 0.8 per cent lower than the previous year. The landfill rate for waste collected by councils was recorded as 21.6 per cent, a significant fall from the 2006 figure, which was set at 72.5 per cent over the same period. The 2021 figure represents a slight increase from the previous year, which saw a landfill rate of 21.2 per cent over the same period.
Waste arisings sent to energy recovery saw a slight increase from the same period last year, rising from 23.2 per cent in 2020 to 23.8 per cent this year. This represents a significant increase from the 2010 figure, which saw a 0.1 per cent rate during the same period.
Household waste accounted for 88.2 per cent of all waste collected during this period. The recycling rate for household waste was 52.1 per cent, falling 2.3 per cent from the 2020 figure – 54.4 per cent over the same period. The landfill rate for household waste, however, saw an increase on the previous year, rising from 20.7 per cent to 21.5 per cent. The composting rate for household waste saw a 7.3 per cent increase from 2020, rising from 22 per cent to 29.3 per cent.
Responding to the data, Colm Warren, Chief Executive of Natural World Products (NWP), said: “It is, of course, welcome that more than a third of household waste recorded in the period was composted, making up well over half of all material recycled.
“However, there is significant scope for this figure to be increased with a greater and concerted push from authorities to drive up recycling rates of household organics, including garden waste. More regular collection of brown bins and food waste may be an obvious thing to explore – especially if residual bin collections are to be reduced in frequency for example.
“Reminding residents of the critical importance of using their brown bins for both food and garden waste is of increasing importance – especially when we branch away from looking only at the impact on landfill diversion and start thinking about how we’re combating the critical issues of both soil health and carbon capture as we step up efforts in the battle against the climate emergency.
“Organic and peat-free compost is a critical weapon in the fight to return organic matter to heavily farmed soils, create greater growing sustainability locally and for reducing the use of peat in horticulture – with the massive carbon savings that also entails.
“Every householder in Northern Ireland has a role to play in that battle – let’s be a world-leading example of what a tangible and local circular economy can actually look like.”
The figures, DAERA says, are provisional until the final end-year validation has been completed, an annual report with fully validated figures for 2020/21 being scheduled for November. Data in the report was based on returns made to WasteDataFlow, a web-based system used by all UK local authorities to report LAC municipal waste.
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