McIlveen welcomes increase in household recycling rate

Date published: 20 October 2016

Environment Minister Michelle McIlveen has today welcomed the increase in household waste sent for recycling this spring.

Statistics published today show that the quarterly household recycling rate for April – June 2016 was 46.4%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to the same period in 2015.

Also compared to the same period last year, the tonnage of household materials sent for landfill fell from 90,149 to 85,615 tonnes. This represents a household landfill rate of 37.0%, a drop of more than 3 percentage points.

Welcoming the figures, Miss McIlveen said: “It is encouraging that we are continuing to see even more household waste being reused, recycled, and composted across Northern Ireland.

“We all need to continue this good work – not only does it benefit our environment but it contributes towards a wider circular economy. This is where we keep using resources for as long as possible to extract their maximum value before recycling them, with a huge resultant positive impact on efficiency and competitiveness in Northern Ireland.

“As local councils implement changes, such as increasing the range of waste collected at the kerbside, I would encourage everyone to double check to ensure you are not inadvertently disposing of waste that could be recycled or composted.”

Notes to editors: 

  1. This is the twenty-ninth quarterly Northern Ireland Local Authority Collected Municipal Waste Management Statistics Reports and the last for the reporting year 2016-17. Full information on the DAERA website.
  2. There are eleven indicators covered in the Local Authority Collected Municipal Waste Management Statistics report, covering Local Authority Collected municipal waste, household waste and biodegradable local authority collected municipal waste. The indicators have been calculated from the WasteDataFlow (WDF) system which is used by all UK local authorities to report municipal waste.
  3. Electronic copies of both reports are available on the DAERA website.
  4. All media enquiries should be directed to the DAERA Press Office on 028 9025 4619 or email pressoffice.group@daera-ni.gov.uk. Out of office hours, please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07623 974 383 and your call will be returned.
  5. Follow us on Twitter @daera_ni.

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