The provisional Northern Ireland Municipal Waste Management Statistics, July - September 2011, published today shows that almost 56% of municipal waste was sent to landfill during the second quarter of the year.

This is an improvement of almost four percentage points compared to the second quarter last year and represents an overall improvement in excess of 16 percentage points compared to the July - September 2006 rate, when the current Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy was published.

-- Advertisement --

Around a third of the annual allowance of biodegradable municipal waste that can be sent to landfill was used in the first half of the 2011/12 financial year; again improving on the 37% used in the first half of 2010/11.

The amount of municipal waste generated during the second quarter of this year was around 250 kilotonnes, a decrease of just over 4% on the corresponding period in the previous year.

The report further shows that almost 43% of household waste was sent for recycling or composting during the second quarter of the year. This is an increase of almost one percentage point compared to the second quarter household recycling/composting rate achieved last year.

(CD/GK)