Recycling in Northern Ireland

In recent years ever greater efforts have been made in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 to divert waste away from landfill through recycling

Recycling

Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...

. Currently Northern Ireland's 26 local councils

Local government in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom, for example they have no responsibility for education, for road building or for housing...

have statutory responsibility for the collection and disposal of waste, and as such are the lead actors in promoting recycling. Since 2000, when the Northern Ireland Department of the Environment published its first Waste Management Strategy, these 26 councils have come together to form three separate subregional waste management partnerships: arc21 (consisting of 11 councils in the east of Northern Ireland), the Northwest Region Waste Management Group, and SWaMP (the Southern Waste Management Partnership).

In the original 2000 Waste Management Strategy, district councils were set the target of recycling and composting 15% of household waste by 2005 and 25% by 2010. In the second Waste Management Strategy, launched in early 2006, new, bolder targets were set for recycling (including composting) 35% of waste by 2010, 40% by 2015, and 45% by 2020.

Though much remains to be done, over the past decade recycling and composting rates have increased dramatically in Northern Ireland from roughly 5% in 1999 to 33% in 2009.

Recycling Rates

The following is a table summarizing the gains made in recent years in diverting waste from landfill through recycling and composting. The data for this table come from Northern Ireland's Department of the Environment municipal waste reports. Since the mid-2000s, local councils in Northern Ireland have been required to report data on municipal waste arisings on a quarterly basis.

Waste Management Group	District Council	2002	2003	04-05	05-06	06-07	07-08	08-09	09-10
arc21	Antrim Borough Council	18.6	21.8	39.8	45.8	47.1	47.1	48.3	51.2
arc21	Ards Borough Council	9.0	8.4	19.4	22.9	24.5	26.3	33.9	37.2
SWaMP	Armagh City and District Council	15.9	22.8	25.7	29.1	35.0	38.5	36.3	38.7
arc21	Ballymena Borough Council	20.1	17.5	21.6	25.7	26.5	24.8	36.2	34.2
NWRWMG	Ballymoney Borough Council	6.3	7.5	22.2	21.4	21.9	24.0	32.5	34.1
SWaMP	Banbridge District Council	27.1	34.5	40.0	40.7	44.1	45.4	47.9	51.6
arc21	Belfast City Council	3.5	3.9	8.7	13.0	16.9	20.7	26.3	22.3
arc21	Carrickfergus Borough Council	7.5	8.8	14.6	15.0	19.5	29.3	32.9	30.9
arc21	Castlereagh Borough Council	4.7	12.6	22.7	33.2	35.6	35.7	38.1	38.0
NWRWMG	Coleraine Borough Council	6.2	10.6	17.8	24.0	22.4	25.6	38.4	29.8
SWaMP	Cookstown District Council	16.5	20.0	22.4	26.8	28.4	33.4	39.0	38.7
SWaMP	Craigavon Borough Council	14.4	21.5	21.6	25.6	26.2	29.0	35.4	33.1
NWRWMG	Derry City Council	2.3	6.0	11.9	28.3	23.6	28.3	32.6	29.6
arc21	Down District Council	11.7	13.3	16.8	29.2	27.8	26.0	32.6	28.3
SWaMP	Dungannon and South Tyrone BC	10.0	12.1	19.1	19.2	23.8	28.2	33.3	31.1
SWaMP	Fermanagh District Council	9.6	15.8	18.9	17.7	24.3	25.1	26.7	31.3
arc21	Larne Borough Council	5.8	8.7	14.5	23.1	28.4	32.1	40.5	35.3
NWRWMG	Limavady Borough Council	3.5	11.1	24.1	33.2	28.1	36.2	33.0	34.9
arc21	Lisburn City Council	8.1	8.5	13.7	21.1	24.8	31.6	33.1	36.5
NWRWMG	Magherafelt District Council	3.8	14.4	27.4	32.1	32.1	35.5	42.1	48.4
NWRWMG	Moyle District Council	1.9	4.1	9.5	18.0	21.1	29.0	30.7	32.6
SWaMP	Newry + Mourne District Council	8.7	12.3	18.2	22.7	25.8	26.0	32.6	28.8
arc21	Newtownabbey Borough Council	15.0	15.4	18.0	20.9	22.8	26.9	35.0	34.5
arc21	North Down Borough Council	9.3	16.2	19.8	20.1	26.8	30.6	40.4	34.4
SWaMP	Omagh District Council	8.5	11.8	17.9	15.9	23.6	32.5	38.1	37.4
NWRWMG	Strabane District Council	3.5	7.3	15.0	18.7	20.3	21.0	25.7	23.8
	arc21	8.7	10.4	16.5	21.5	24.8	27.9	33.9	32.2
	NWRWMG	4.0	25.9	17.4	26.0	24.1	28.3	34.2	32.6
	SWaMP	13.2	6.3	22.3	24.2	28.1	31.0	35.5	35.2
	Northern Ireland Total	8.9	12.2	18.2	23.0	25.5	28.8	34.4	33.1