AQW 9721/17-22

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 04/11/2020
Answered On Date: 12/11/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the impact that increasing waste incineration capacity would have on rates of recycling.

Answer:

Whilst I accept that energy recovery can be necessary in certain circumstances, I would stress the importance of applying the waste hierarchy in accordance with Article 4 of the Waste Framework Directive. Where waste generation cannot be prevented, reuse should be encouraged. If reuse is not suitable or the item has reached the end of its useful life, recycling should be undertaken. Only once these options have been exhausted should energy from waste or landfill be considered.

The transposition of the Circular Economy Package into domestic legislation will add further requirements to ensure that waste which has been separately collected for preparing for reuse or recycling is not incinerated, except where incineration delivers the best environmental outcome.

Although the planning process for waste incineration is not within my remit I do continue to assess the need for additional waste infrastructure and this will be further informed by an update to a Strategic Investment Board report which outlines Northern Ireland’s future waste infrastructure needs to 2035.

My main focus is however on increasing the quality and quantity of recycling and my Department are progressing a range of initiatives in this area, including the Household Waste Collaborative Change Programme and the recent discussion document “Future Recycling and Separation of Waste in Northern Ireland”.

I am confident the Northern Ireland will continue on this trajectory of increased recycling even if incineration capacity is increased.