Poots welcomes publication of provisional municipal waste management statistics

The Environment Minister, Edwin Poots today welcomed the publication of the provisional quarterly municipal waste management statistics for January - March 2010.

The Minister said: "It is important to understand how far Northern Ireland has come in recycling waste over recent years. For example, today's statistical press release stated very clearly that Northern Ireland was performing well above the required standard in only landfilling some 21% of its permitted allocation in terms of biodegradable municipal waste.

"There is however always scope for improvement, and I have made it clear that I want to see more progress against the existing targets and more challenging targets in the future. With this in mind, in May I announced a £3.13million Rethink Waste Fund to develop recycling infrastructure.

"This, along with a wider package of measures, including communications to engage with people on the importance of recycling, will continue the trend towards waste being seen as a valuable resource rather than as a problem to be buried in the ground."

Notes to editors

1. This is the fourth Northern Ireland Municipal Waste Management Statistics Report, and will be updated quarterly. Note that all figures are provisional until the final end-year validation has been completed.
2. There are nine indicators covered in the report, covering municipal waste, household waste and biodegradable 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 the ‘Northern Ireland Municipal Waste Management Statistics Report’ Should this format not be suitable for your needs hard copies are available free of charge from: Central Statistics and Research Branch, Clarence Court, 10-18 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8GB, tel: 028 9054 0916, e-mail: csrb@drdni.gov.uk
4. The Department of the Environment’s waste prevention website http://www.rethinkwasteni.org contains carefully tailored information for the business, community and voluntary sectors. It aims to raise awareness of how individuals and businesses can take simple steps to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover waste in order to send less of it to landfill.
5. All media enquiries should be directed to the DOE Press Office on 028 9054 0003. Out of office hours please contact the duty press officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.