LATEST local authority collected (LAC) municipal waste management statistics for Northern Ireland published by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs have shown another significant increase in waste being landfilled year on year in the region.
This is despite the clear need to dramatically reduce this method of waste treatment if we are to meet agreed circular economy and climate change targets.
The quantity of LAC municipal waste sent to landfill in quarters one and two of the 2021/22 year has increased by 12.7 per cent year - up from 112,654 tonnes between April and September 2020 to 126,948 tonnes between the same period last year.
The quarter two figures also show a quarterly landfill rate of 23.7 per cent, higher than the 21.6 per cent recorded during the same quarter of 2020.
Meanwhile in the latest Q2 comparisons, energy recovery from waste has also dropped year on year by 1.5 per cent to 21.5 per cent (just over a fifth of waste collected) compared to 23 per cent the year before.
And in the absence of sufficient local energy recovery capacity, this means that more waste is being diverted to the least sustainable option in the waste hierarchy - landfill.
These figures clearly demonstrate that Northern Ireland is not heading in the right direction towards a circular economy and provide further evidence of a number of worrying trends in the region's waste management.
If we are to meet agreed climate change and circular economy targets, we simply need to stop burying our waste and our heads in the ground about this issue.
It's abundantly clear we need to deliver critical waste infrastructure here in Northern Ireland to achieve this, rather than continue to landfill our black bin waste or rely on similar facilities abroad.
This has been recognised by arc21, the public sector waste management body for six local councils and their 1.1 million inhabitants for many years now, but still their plans to manage their black bin waste have been beset by long delays.
We support and agree with the recently published draft Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland which recognises that ‘Too much of our waste is exported each year to become someone else’s opportunity to recycle into higher-value material, generate energy; or unfortunately in some cases, to become someone else’s disposal problem.’
It also clearly states that ‘we will need to invest in and develop a more coherent, robust and resilient waste management system for the whole of the region.’
While the investment strategy reiterates the policy objectives of various plans and strategies over many years, these are only empty promises if they are not backed up by action.
Now is the time for that action and to deliver the critical waste infrastructure that Northern Ireland clearly needs . . . we have no time to waste.
:: Jackie Keaney is commercial director of Indaver (Ireland and UK) and vice-president of the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants (CEWEP)
