Belfast - Environment Minister Edwin Poots has welcomed quarterly figures that show households are now recycling more waste than ever before (39 percent), exceeding targets for the second consecutive quarter in 2009. The household recycling targets for April to September 2009 have exceeded the 35 percent target set for 2010.

Commenting on the results, Minister Poots said: “Recycling is increasingly part of everyday life in households across Northern Ireland. People are rethinking how they treat waste and are clearly considering the impact their waste has on the environment.”

The Northern Ireland Municipal Waste Management Statistics report (July to Sept 2009) also indicated that composting accounted for 19 percent, with recycling making up the other 20 percent of household waste recycled. The remaining 61 percent of household waste was sent to landfill sites. Whilst municipal waste sent to landfill was almost 2 percent less when compared to the same quarter in 2008, there was a 21 percent decrease in biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) being sent to landfill by councils in Northern Ireland over this same period.

The Minister continued: “The continued reduction in biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill means less landfill gas emissions such as methane being released into our environment. This reduction not only minimizes the long term impact on our surrounding environment but also reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

“These latest statistics demonstrate the commitment of both local councils and my Department in helping reduce both recyclable and biodegradable municipal waste being sent to landfill sites. We need to keep this momentum going as there is clearly room for more improvement.”

Electronic copies of the ‘Northern Ireland Waste Management Statistics Report July – September 2009’ are available in portable document format (.pdf).

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