Non-municipal waste
61. One of the Strategy's primary targets is to reduce
the landfilling of industrial and commercial waste to 85% of 1998
levels by 2005, but a clear strategy for non-municipal waste is
lacking. We heard evidence that the Strategy was not considered
to have dealt with commercial and industrial wastes adequately.
In particular, the CBI considered that the sub-regional plans
failed to give sufficient emphasis to non-municipal wastes, and
that this position was not sustainable.[102]
62. In addition, the Department recognised that verifying
such a target would be difficult because of inadequate data "If
we take commercial and industrial waste, we already have a figure
for that from a survey from 2002, but we immediately would question
that baseline data of 660,000 tonnes simply because it is an extrapolation
from questionnaires".[103]
63. Commercial
and industrial waste processing is not receiving adequate attention.
While the regional BPEO (Best Practicable Environmental Option)
exercise may help to identify appropriate treatment options for
non-municipal waste, we are concerned that the absence of firm
proposals to process such waste places a question mark over the
ability of the present arrangements to deliver the infrastructure
required at the appropriate time. Poor data is undermining the
integrity of targets for non-municipal waste and the Government
must take steps now to improve the quality of such data.
64. Responses from the Department also revealed tensions
over the way in which targets for commercial and industrial waste
might affect Northern Ireland's economic competitiveness. It pointed
out that "if we set too high a standard, which is beyond
what they would find elsewhere, they may not come unless there
was a specific advantage."[104]
However, when asked whether there was any firm evidence to suggest
that better resource management and better waste management would
damage competitiveness, the policy of driving up waste efficiencies
to provide industry-wide benefits was clear:
"The synergy that we have is that by focusing
on resource management, by making it better, easier and simpler
for the producers of waste to spend less in producing waste and
more on the production processes, in other words to make them
efficient, we will benefit industry and in benefiting industry
with our systems, with our techniques, we will export that expertise."[105]
65. Given
the relatively low cost of waste management relative to turnover
for most industrial sectors , it remains to be demonstrated whether
any increase in such costs would diminish Northern Ireland's attractiveness
to inward investors. Furthermore, significant social benefits
are likely to flow from improvements by the commercial and industrial
sectors in waste management.
66. The establishment
and work of the Aggregates Recycling Task Group is a positive
development and there is a belief within the industry that this
is likely to enhance sustainability. The role of the Central Procurement
Directorate in instigating the Task Group has received recognition.
The Quarry Products Association Northern Ireland
told us: "Various government departments have now signed
up to sustainable construction, etc., and although there has been
very slow progress to date I think that is going to speed up."[106]
67. The Department for Agriculture and Rural Development
(DARD), in conjunction with EHS, is developing an Agricultural
Waste Strategy; and the DoE Environmental Policy Group is preparing
draft Agricultural Waste Regulations. While DARD recognises the
potential impact of bringing agricultural waste under the regime
for controlled wastes[107],
the pace of these initiatives has been criticised. Friends of
the Earth (FOE) attacked the delay in developing the Agricultural
Waste Strategy, pointing out that awaiting the introduction of
the Agricultural Waste Regulations "was the approach that
was committed to about four or five years ago and it was at the
strategy review point that the Agricultural Waste Strategy was
supposed to be merged." FOE drew a general point from the
case of agricultural waste: "… the whole non-emphasis
on agricultural waste is symptomatic of how the focus has been
for the past four to five years on the municipal waste stream
and everything else has been seen as a secondary consideration."[108]
68. We are concerned
that non-municipal wastes have not been given the priority they
warrant in the sub-regional plans. We recommend that clear consideration
should be given to ways in which the relevant facilities can be
created. When mechanisms for procuring municipal waste facilities
are being developed, consideration must be given to how these
can incorporate non-municipal wastes in ways that are attractive
to the partners involved.
69. We received
no evidence that higher costs in the management of commercial
and industrial waste would necessarily undermine the economic
competitiveness of Northern Ireland or deter investors. We recommend
that the Department of the Environment and Invest Northern Ireland
cooperate in the development of a coherent strategy for dealing
with such wastes in which the efficiency of energy and materials
resource management has a central place. We believe this is necessary
if Northern Ireland is to develop expertise in resource management
in commerce and industry for future export.
Waste reduction
70. The Waste Management Strategy set out a secondary
target to "Stem the increase in waste arisings per household[109],
returning to 1998 levels by 2005 and thereafter reduce arisings
by 1% every three years". Little, if anything, has been done
to achieve this target. In its report on the Interim Needs for
Landfill Capacity, EHS projected growth of municipal waste arisings
to 2007 at 4% per annum.[110]
71. Local authorities suggested that reductions in
the frequency of refuse collection helped to reduce the quantity
of municipal waste being collected,[111]
and noted other measures in the Republic of Ireland, for example,
the plastic bag tax, and charging households directly for waste,
which had an impact on the quantity of waste collected there.
While the local authorities did not comment on the appropriateness
of charging systems for Northern Ireland, the Department considered
that "at some stage we have to look at this most carefully
to encourage and incentivise people to segregate their waste and
to pay attention to the products they buy."[112]
We are concerned at the absence
of specific measures to reduce the growth of municipal waste.
We recommend that the Department undertakes a thorough review
of potential measures, including charging.
89 Ev 26 Back
90
Ev 107 Back
91
Q 107 Back
92
Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy Review Report,
Waste Management Advisory Board for Northern Ireland, June 2004 Back
93
Ev 226 Back
94
Ev 100 Back
95
Ev 26 Back
96
Q 274 Back
97
Central Procurement Directorate, Procurement Guidance Note
04/04, Subject: Integrating Environmental Considerations into
Public Procurement, DFP 2004 Back
98
QQ 347, 349 Back
99
Q 342 Back
100
Q 347 Back
101
Ev 226 Back
102
Ev 43 Back
103
Q 279 Back
104
Q 275 Back
105
Q 278 Back
106
Q 307 Back
107
Ev 148 Back
108
Q 309 Back
109
The amount of waste produced per household Back
110
EHS Interim Needs for Landfill Capacity, 2003-2007, March 2003. Back
111
QQ 55-56 Back
112
Q 293 Back
