Landfill Waste Drops, But Recycling Stalls...

The amount of waste in Northern Ireland going to landfill has dropped, but the percentage of household recycling and composting has failed to show any increase, according to the latest Northern Ireland Local Authority Collected (LAC) Municipal Waste Management Statistics.

Covering July to September 2014, the figures show that for the first time since 2009/10, household dry recycling and composting has failed to show any quarter on quarter increase, remaining at just below 46%.

Despite this, the tonnage of household waste going to landfill has dropped below 89 thousand tonnes, down 14% on last year (103 thousand tonnes).

This indicates that 40%, or two out of every five tonnes, of household waste is currently being sent to landfill, showing an improvement of almost 7% on the same quarter last year.

The Department of the Environment said the reduction has been "largely achieved through an increasing proportion of the waste being diverted for energy recovery rather than by any further improvement to the household recycling and composting rate."

Environment Minister Durkan said: "Whilst it is good to see that the North has maintained its household recycling rate, the slowdown in its increase does concern me. I also note that councils are now recycling more metal and glass through kerbside collections. I would ask all householders to check with their local council to see exactly what materials they can recycle at the kerbside – the range is increasing all the time. Recycling saves local councils the cost of landfilling, so every small action taken by a household to recycle is contributing to the local community."

(IT/MH)