“We need to stop burying our waste and our heads in the ground” says Indaver.
Waste data published by DAERA has revealed that councils across Northern Ireland and missing their landfill waste targets significantly.
Rather than reducing waste being sent to landfill, NI has seen a 12.7% increase year on year to date.
This direction of travel seriously risks NI’s ability to meet its agreed climate change, circular economy and waste management targets.
This of course applies to all Councils in Northern Ireland who have responsibility for waste management and reducing waste to landfill including those in your area.
According to Indaver, the European integrated waste management company behind plans to invest £240m in modern waste infrastructure to meet the identified needs of six NI councils in the arc21 area, this demonstrates that Northern Ireland is NOT heading in the right direction towards a circular economy. Circular economy targets to include a 10% maximum cap on waste to landfill by 2035.
You can find the specific council figures from the latest published data in the link below.
“We need to stop burying our waste and our heads in the ground” … that was the latest NI Waste Data message from Indaver pointing to worrying trends in Llght of climate change and circular economy targets.
Landfilling of waste has increased by nearly 12.7% year on year to date.
The latest Northern Ireland local authority collected (LAC) municipal waste management statistics published by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) have shown another significant increase in waste being landfilled year on year in Northern Ireland. 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 for Q1 and Q2 of this year (2021/22) has increased by 12.7 per cent year on year so far, from 112,654 tonnes between April and September 2020 to 126,948 tonnes between April and September 2021. The latest quarter figures (Q2) 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% to 21.5% (just over a fifth of waste collected) compared to 23% the year before.
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.
Speaking about the latest waste data Jackie Keaney, Indaver said: “These latest figures provide further evidence of a number of worrying trends in Northern Ireland waste management. If we are to meet agreed climate change and circular economy targets, we need to stop burying our waste and our heads in the ground about this issue.
“It is abundantly clear that 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 1.1m 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 latest 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.”
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Northern Ireland faces a significant challenge to manage its waste in a more environmentally responsible and economically sustainable way. A 2020 Grant Thornton Report points out that the independent UK Committee on Climate Change believes that the lack of Energy from Waste (EfW) plants in NI, unlike elsewhere in the UK and across Europe, may restrict our ability to deal with increased diversion of our municipal waste from landfill a key contributor to harmful greenhouse gases. Its 2019 report on reducing emissions here concludes that the delay in planning permission for the arc21 council waste management infrastructure “may negatively impact on NI’s ability to deal with waste diverted from landfill in the near term.”
In a statement from the Department of Infrastructure to Down News, a spokesperson said, speaking on the issue of planning and Energy to Waste projects such as proposed at Mallusk, that: “The Minister is keen to bring a resolution to this long standing application for all involved, but if a sound decision is to be reached, it is important the planning process is completed correctly. Departmental officials continue to work at pace and in line with planning policy on this application and a recommendation will be brought forward to the Minister for her consideration in due course. However the Department cannot confirm at this stage when a recommendation will be made.”
‘arc21’ is a democratically accountable body corporate being a statutory joint committee of its six constituent councils, listed below. arc21 works on behalf of its member councils to guide, support and help them meet their legal requirements and drive forward innovative waste management programmes including the development of infrastructure The region has a population of over 1.1 million people which is 59% of NI’s population.
The councils involved in arc21 are:
- Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council
- Ards and North Down Borough Council
- Belfast City Council
- Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council
- Mid and East Antrim Borough Council
- Newry, Mourne and Down District Council
The need for residual waste infrastructure is set out in the current NI Waste Management Strategy and in the associated arc21 Waste Management Plan which is endorsed by arc 21’s constituent councils, democratically mandated to act on behalf of their residents.
In response to the public procurement, launched in 2007/8, the Becon Consortium developed plans to co-locate a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant which will increase recycling and an Energy from Waste (EfW) plant using an incinerator with energy recovery process and a Visitor Center at the Hightown Quarry site on the Boghill Road, Mallusk.
The project will:
- Reduce Greenhouse Gases by 57,000 tonnes annually by diverting waste from landfill
- Increase recycling rates by between 5 and 10%
- Provide renewable electricity equivalent to powering 30,000 homes annually
- Support 455 construction jobs (at peak)
- Support 300 direct and indirect jobs when operational
- Generate millions in rates income and revenue share for arc21 councils
- Ensure arc21’s councils comply with their Waste Management Plans
- Help tackle waste crime
- Provide the potential to stimulate new economic and decarbonisation projects
- Create new public footpaths / cycle paths and restore habitation within Hightown Quarry
Planning approval for the project was granted by Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Permanent Secretary in 2017 (during the political hiatus in Northern Ireland) following a clear recommendation to approve from an independent PAC hearing process. It was deemed to be clearly in the public interest.
That decision was later quashed following the outcome of a judicial review which questioned the legal basis for senior civil servants to make such a decision in the absence of a Minister. The project planning application and the PAC recommendation to approve it now remain to be redetermined by the Minister for Infrastructure/NI Executive.
The company behind the Becon Consortium is Indaver (NI) Ltd (previously known as EEW Energy from Waste UK Limited). During the latter part of 2015 and the early part of 2016, Indaver (NI) Ltd was acquired from EEW Energy from Waste GmBH by Indaver N.V. Indaver N.V. has for over 25 years been providing integrated waste management services to public authorities.
These partnerships deliver services which include: * the treatment of municipal waste; * the organisation of waste management systems; * and the development and management of specialised waste treatment facilities.
In 2011 Indaver completed the construction of the first municipal Energy from Waste plant on the island of Ireland. The plant located at Duleek, Co. Meath provides a thermal treatment and recovery solution for 230,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste annually while generating renewable electricity to power 20,000 homes.
They are currently progressing plans for Energy from Waste plants in Aberdeen in Scotland and in Essex, England. it is also currently planning to develop a new EfW facility in Cork and has expansion plans for its existing EfW facility in Meath to include generation of hydrogen fuel for mobility and industrial use.
Each year, across 6 European countries, Indaver manages more than 5 million tonnes of waste, the majority of which is either recovered as energy or recycled.
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