Letter: Overhaul of Northern Ireland’s waste management system is long overdue
A letter from Colin O’Hanlon:
For those in the legitimate waste industry, the recent NI Audit Office report on waste crime sadly came as no great surprise.
The Mobuoy scandal, where Northern Ireland hosts possibly the largest illegal waste dump in Europe, shone a light on the gaping holes in NI’s waste management systems, regulation and monitoring. Yet 12 years later illegality remains an issue.
The fact that we still don’t have a full picture of the quantities and types of all waste generated and their destination is concerning.
NIAO identified that there are no accurate figures for the extent or classification of approximately 87% of waste generated in NI.
They rightly point out that ‘this makes the management of waste difficult and may provide increased opportunity for criminal activity in the sector.’
The latest estimates of illegal dumping date back to 2015 where it was believed to be around 300,000 tonnes per annum.
The 2013 Mills expert report into Mobuoy made a series of recommendations to prevent a repeat of this environmental disaster, but as confirmed by NIAO a number of these remain undelivered.
Chief among them is recommendation 8 which stated the need to ‘Limit the number of waste authorisations to the number necessary to meet Northern Ireland’s projected waste needs and create the necessary new strategic waste infrastructure, which can be more easily regulated and monitored’.
The type of strategic infrastructure envisaged in the Mills report includes the long proposed £250m arc21 residual waste project which has been mired in the NI planning system for over 11 years.
This public sector project will support six of Northern Ireland’s largest councils to increase household waste recycling levels and manage the remaining non-recyclable waste in a sustainable, transparent and responsible way.
Today, in view of climate change and circular economy targets, it is needed more than ever. It now requires a robust and evidence-based planning decision to allow it to progress to the next procurement phase where local councils will decide if it progresses.
The last two NIAO reports on waste management make it clear that Northern Ireland needs to face up to reality and take responsibility for the waste our society produces.
We can’t continue to ship our waste around the world for others to deal with or stick our head in the ground and pretend it isn’t there, just like waste criminals do.
Colin O’Hanlon, Indaver, Belfast