§ Mr. MossTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what percentage of(a) domestic and (b) commercial waste was dealt with in Northern Ireland by (1) recycling and (2) landfill in 1998 and each of the preceding five years. [72917]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyResponsibility for the subject in question has been delegated to the Environment and Heritage Service under its Chief Executive, Mr. Robert C. Martin. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Robert C. Martin to Mr. Malcolm Moss, dated 1 March 1999:
As Chief Executive of Environment and Heritage Service I am responsible for the operational aspects of waste management. Therefore I am replying to your question about the percentage of domestic and commercial waste in Northern Ireland which was dealt with by recycling and landfill each year between 1993 and 1998.Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide the details requested because records are not currently held centrally about the amount of waste generated or what happens to it. The Pollution Control and Local Government (NI) Order 1978, requires individual District Councils to maintain such details only in connection with the preparation and revision of their own statutory Waste Disposal Plans.However, the position will change as the 1978 Order is superseded by the Waste and Contaminated Land (NI) Order 1997. This Order is being brought into operation through a series of Commencement Orders, three of which have been made since August 1998. Two requirements of the Order are that the Department prepares a waste strategy for Northern Ireland as soon as possible, and that District Councils prepare and agree with the Department, waste management plans which take account of the strategy.To this end the Department produced a draft Waste Management Strategy which was issued for public consultation between June and December 1998. We expect that, subject to consideration by the Assembly, the statutory Strategy will be finalised later this year. It will include targets for waste minimisation, recovery and recycling.However, for these targets to be effective and realistic, it will be necessary to establish a baseline on how much waste is currently produced, its composition and what happens to it. Therefore, the Department has recently awarded a contract for the completion of a detailed study of Waste Arisings in Northern Ireland. This will provide comprehensive data on the various waste streams by sector, composition and volume. In conjunction with this, the Department will shortly let a further contract for a Waste Characterisation study which will involve the actual sampling of waste collected. The results of these two studies will inform District Councils' development of their Plans and will be available for public information.I trust this reply is helpful.