Environment Minister Alex Attwood has welcomed a 10,000 tonne drop in landfill figures.

These showed that landfilled biodegradable local authority collected (LAC) municipal waste dropped by c 40,000 tonnes to 309,792, some 10,000 tonnes below the Northern Ireland Landfill Allowance Scheme 2012/13 target of 320,000.

The Minister commented: "Meeting this challenging target one year early is a major achievement and I would like to congratulate Councils across Northern Ireland who have contributed to this success. These figures indicate how we can stretch ourselves, how the ambition to be a world leader in carbon reduction is not beyond our ambition."

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This was partly due to a reduction of 35,685 tonnes (3.6%) in the amount of LAC municipal waste collected and an increase of 14,413 tonnes (4.1%) in the amount of LAC municipal waste sent for recycling (including composting) compared to the previous year.

Household waste, which makes up 88% of LAC municipal tonnages, also improved showing a larger decrease of 4.1% in the amount collected but a smaller increase of almost 2% in the amount sent for recycling.

Minister Attwood said: "It is particularly heartening to see household waste reduction leading the way as this is much more effective than anything else we can do. The success of the recent European Week for Waste Reduction, supported by several local councils, has continued to reinforce the idea that prevention is better than cure."

(CD/GK)