Waste was in the news today as the Stormont Environment Minister Alex Attwood announced a consultation on what he said was "a bold new plan" for keeping Northern Ireland's waste out of landfill.

The SDLP Minister is proposing that future delivery of the waste strategy should focus solely on areas where most impact can be achieved, using a series of planned interventions to reach specific targets.

Among the targets he is proposing for 2020 are increasing recycling and re-use of household, construction and industrial waste to 60% and upwards, and delivery of the major waste infrastructure programme which will divert over 1.5 million tonnes of residual waste from landfill.

Outlining his plan today, the Minister said: "These are very ambitious targets that I am setting. It is right to do so, given the benefits to the environment, the valuable resources locked in waste and the jobs that could be produced.

"We need to be imaginative and push ourselves to achieve them; certainly as Environment Minister I will be pushing myself to the limit," he said.

"Referring to the revised European Waste Framework Directive, which came into force on 12 December he continued: 'I am determined that we exploit the opportunity presented by the revised Waste Framework Directive to place ourselves at the heart of a sustainable global economy.

"To do that we need to work with our closest neighbours to develop new, imaginative and cost-effective ways of managing and maximizing the increasingly scarce and finite resources that we are still sending to landfill.

"Re-focusing delivery of the waste programme on those areas where we can have the greatest impact is a significant step in that process and I urge people to have their say on these important issues," he explained.

"We have the capacity - given the character and size of our population - to lead these islands on the disposal of waste and the green agenda.

"This consultation is a factor in that approach but I want to hear - bluntly if necessary - what more we need to do. This is not a consultation for the sake of it – it is to challenge me and to ensure that we can make rapid progress," he insisted, noting that the consultation on the Addendum to the Waste Management Strategy, will remain open until 20 October and can be accessed on the Department's website at www.doeni.gov.uk

The proposed new delivery programme for the Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy 2006 - 2020 places greater emphasis on strong waste prevention measures and improving recycling and re-use targets for all waste sectors.

It puts forward a prioritised series of actions and interventions in key areas of waste to increase municipal waste recycling rates to 60% by 2020.

(BMcC/GK)