Provisional Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics for July to September 2017 have been published, revealing the country’s recycling rate is 51.5%, an increase on the 48.4% recorded during the same three months of 2016.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has updated the quarterly figures, showing information on key measurements of local authority collected (LAC) municipal waste for councils and waste management groups in Northern Ireland.
The key points are:
- Northern Ireland’s councils collected 260,353 tonnes of LAC municipal waste between July and September 2017, 2.7% lower than the 267,578 tonnes collected during the same three months of 2016.
- Household waste accounts for 89.8% of total LAC municipal waste. Fermanagh and Omagh, and Belfast had the smallest quantities of household waste per person at 109kg, whilst the largest quantity per person was recorded in Antrim and Newtownabbey at 149kg.
- The household waste preparing for reuse, dry recycling and composting rate was 51.5% between July and September 2017, an increase on the 48.4% recorded during the same three months of 2016.
- At council level, rates varied from 45.2% in Causeway Coast and Glens to 57.5% in Mid and East Antrim.
- The LAC municipal waste energy recovery rate was 18.4%, similar to the 17.9% reported for July to September 2016. The highest rate was recorded in Newry, Mourne and Down at 50.2% and the lowest was 5.1% in Lisburn & Castlereagh.
The latest quarterly landfill rate for household waste was 29.5%, a further reduction on the 33.4% recorded during the same three months of 2016. There were 38,574 tonnes of residual waste sent to landfill between July and September 2017.
This was 16.6% lower than the 46,261 tonnes sent between the same three months of 2016. It also accounted for a smaller proportion of the annual allowance, 15.5% between July and September 2017 compared to 17.6% in the equivalent quarter of 2016.
