AQW 4869/17-22

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 15/06/2020
Answered On Date: 26/06/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (i) to detail the locations of all current illegal waste sites that have been identified by his Department, (ii) to detail the approximate tonnage of waste that are contained within each of the illegal sites identified by his Department; and (iii) for his assessment of which of the illegal sites is best dealt with in situ rather than onward removal and transportation.

Answer:

My officers currently have 81 open enforcement cases of alleged waste offending throughout Northern Ireland, ranging from unauthorised landfills to unlicensed vehicle breakers. I am not in a position to detail the location of individual incidents, as doing so could compromise ongoing and potential legal proceedings.

Calculation of site waste tonnages is often a complicated process as the volume of waste is dependent on a number of factors such as the type of waste, how the waste has been deposited, ability to take volumetric measurements, the availability of historical map data, etc., and in some cases, sites do not lend themselves to tonnage calculations at all. In addition to this, only after a site investigation has reached an advanced stage where all available information has been collated, will my officers estimate waste volume. Given these constraints and tonnages yet to be calculated, I can confirm that of the 81 sites, 28 have tonnage data available. The total tonnage of waste contained in these 28 site is estimated to be 163,065 tonnes. This figure excludes the infilled waste at the Mobuoy Road site in Londonderry.

I am unable to give you an assessment on individual sites, for the reasons set out in point i). However, I can assure you that for any type of illegal waste disposal the risks to the environment are assessed and appropriate remediation is determined.