Northern Ireland local authority grouping, arc21, has warned that it must build more waste infrastructure to avoid a “waste crisis” and the country’s reliance on exporting and landfill.
Arc21’s acting chief executive, Tim Walker, said that Northern Ireland does not have enough local facilities to treat non-recyclable household waste, which is why it heavily relies on waste exports and landfill to “solve the problem”.
The organisation represents the councils of: Antrim and Newtownabbey borough; Belfast City; Ards and North Down borough; Lisburn & Castlereagh City; Mid and East Antrim borough; and Newry, Mourne and Down district.
The arc21 statement, published earlier this month, was issued before a bale of refused derived fuel (RDF), from a Northern Irish vessel, fell into the water during a storm as it was being unloaded at Searsport in Maine. The incident has attracted media attention and highlighted the exporting of RDF from Northern Ireland (see letsrecycle.com story).
‘Key priority’
In its statement, arc21 said that its “key priority” is to reduce Northern Ireland’s over-reliance on exporting almost 400,000 tonnes of household waste annually, as local landfill sites are nearing capacity.
There are also concerns over the rising financial and environmental costs of exporting waste, arc21 is seeking to develop modern waste facilities instead.
It comes as arc21’s plans for a £240 million waste treatment project is still in the planning process with the involvement also of Northern Ireland’s Department of the Environment (DAERA) and Department of Infrastructure.
Impression of the arc21-backed Co Antrim project with MBT and energy from waste plant (produced in 2014)
The project has been deemed “essential”, as Northern Ireland continue to face challenges in managing its waste locally. (see letsrecycle.com story)
‘Under-capacity’
Mr Walker explained some of the background to the need for a facility ahead of moving to a full Circular Economy. He said: “Northern Ireland has already committed to a 10% cap on the amount of waste we send to landfill and several export markets have already closed or imposed punitive taxes on waste.
“The arc21 region produces the equivalent of 15 million black bins’ worth of household waste every year. That’s 15 million reasons to say yes to new facilities at Hightown that will give us breathing space to transition to a fully functioning Circular Economy whilst removing the potential risk of a systemic failure in household waste services.”
Mr Walker added that there is a “chronic under-capacity” in the sector to properly treat the waste locally and that failure to “address the gap” will precipitate a waste crisis with “financial and environmental consequences”.
Urging action, he said: “We can’t keep repeating the inaction of the past. The failure to provide proper infrastructure for managing residual waste needs to be addressed with the same focus and sense of urgency that defines the debate over gaps in critical infrastructure such as Northern Ireland’s wastewater services.”
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
