Northern Ireland needs to be increasingly innovative in the way it tackles waste management, NI Environment Minister Edwin Poots has said.

Speaking at a waste conference, Mr Poots said recycling would continue to be a top priority for his department.

"The reality is that we cannot continue to dump our waste in large holes in the ground, without thought for the materials and energy that can be recovered from it, or for its impact on our environment," he said.

"A need exists for work to be undertaken at a local level that will lead to improvements in waste management, in particular greater recovery and recycling."

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Mr Poots said Northern Ireland has a lack of local markets for recovered materials, compost and products containing recycled material.

"Establishing sustained demand for these products is the most effective means of stimulating the market," the minister said.

During 2008/9 the local household waste recycling rate has hit 35%, compared to 4.9% in 1999.

Mr Poots said recycling offers new business opportunities for the Northern Ireland economy.

"The key to a successful recycling sector will be innovation and it is hoped to encourage imaginative and original solutions to working with secondary materials; stimulating demand amongst end users so that recycling can be sustained and competition encouraged."

He said good work was being undertaken by councils across the province.

"As with all challenges which we face, waste management brings the opportunity to realise our potential and develop closer working relationships between central and local government."

(PR/BMcC)