Biggest wasters in Northern Ireland

We generate more rubbish per person than anywhere else in the country, according to a new Government report.

The population living in the North West Region Waste Management Group (NWRWMG) - which includes Londonderry, Strabane and Limavady - have the highest amount of waste per capita in Northern Ireland (497 kg per capita).

NWRWMG also has the highest amount of waste per household in Northern Ireland (1.271 tonnes per household).

Our wastefulnes is revealed by the newly-published Northern Ireland Municipal Waste Management Statistics, Annual Report 2009/10.

Despite revealing us as the biggest waste generators in Northern Ireland the study did report progress through a sharp increase in recycling and a reduction in landfill over the past eight years.

NWRWMG was the most improved group in Northern Ireland increasing its amount of recycling more than eightfold since 2002, although it started from the lowest base.

It was also the most improved in the reduction of landfill. Landfilling here fell from 96 per cent in 2002 to 66 per cent in 2009/10.

Equally, NWRWMG increased the percentage of household waste sent for recycling to 35 per cent in 2009/10 albeit from the lowest 2002 baseline of 4.6 per cent.

And NWRWMG made the biggest reduction in the percentage of household waste it sends to landfill, decreasing from 95.4 per cent in 2002 to 64.4 per cent in 2009/10.

The North West also had the highest municipal waste dry recycling rate (23.5 per cent) and the highest municipal waste reuse rate, but the lowest municipal composting rate (9.1 per cent).

A high percentage of material recovery for clean Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) was recorded in the North West (over 90 per cent) but the level of recovery for dirty MRFs was just 42 per cent.

The study says: "This is due to a variety of factors and highlights the influence of different sources and / or composition of residual municipal waste on MRF recovery rates."

A MRF is a facility at which components of a mixed waste stream, are extracted by the use of mechanical separation techniques.

The report includes information on municipal waste collected from household and non-household sources and the levels of recycling in Northern Ireland. The information presented relates to 2009/10, together with trend data over the last number of years.