Contributing to BBC Northern Ireland’s The View programme, Indaver, the European waste management specialists behind plans to develop a modern waste management solution to meet the needs of six Northern Ireland councils making up the arc21 partnership, has warned that Northern Ireland is facing a looming waste crisis unless it delivers the necessary infrastructure to manage its own waste.
For some time now Indaver has been highlighting to stakeholders and decision makers the precarious nature of Northern Ireland’s waste sector and stressing the need for the project to proceed. Most recently they published a report called ‘Tipping Point’, which they issued to all Assembly members and local councillors in the arc21 councils last year. This report emphasised that Northern Ireland risks adding a waste infrastructure crisis to our existing wastewater crisis, which is already damaging Northern Ireland’s economic aspirations and environmental reputation.
Climate change and circular economy targets mean, we no longer send our residual (black bag), largely non-recyclable waste to landfill, and because of this, most of our landfills have closed. This leaves Northern Ireland extremely vulnerable, and subject to increasingly volatile and expensive waste export markets. We expect other jurisdictions across Europe to manage our waste. In doing so, these countries extract its value through energy and heat recovery. The report makes it clear that this is neither a responsible nor a sustainable long-term solution, especially in these turbulent geopolitical times.
In 2024, NI exported nearly 290,000 tonnes of residual waste as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) to fuel energy-from-waste plants across Europe and approximately 80% of that went through Warrenpoint Port. This figure has more than doubled (+223%) since 2020 and according to Indaver, will continue to rise without local waste infrastructure, thus leaving Northern Ireland even more at the mercy of these already volatile markets and processes.
Speaking about their concerns shared with the BBC Colin O’Hanlon, Indaver said;
“There is chronic under-capacity in the Northern Ireland waste management sector for our black bag waste, and we are lagging significantly behind the rest of the UK and Europe in adopting the modern infrastructure necessary to address this growing challenge. Continued inaction means we are nearing a tipping point, where we are increasingly vulnerable and risk running into a waste crisis.
“For many years through various strategies and plans, energy recovery of waste has been viewed as a more environmentally friendly solution than landfill. While the success in achieving higher energy recovery rates from waste has been celebrated here, what has been ignored, is that this has largely been happening in Scandinavia, where they have realised the value of NI waste, through energy recovery for power and heat. Waste exports were only ever seen as an interim solution, until Northern Ireland developed its own modern and robust infrastructure. But the long-term solution needs to be progressed. Waste exporting is a notoriously complex process involving many movements of waste on roads and ships and which requires port infrastructure and storage. The resultant carbon footprint only adds to the negative environmental landscape. The proximity principle of good waste management means that waste should be dealt with as close to the source as possible. It is our view that the issues being experienced in Warrenpoint for some time now, are a direct symptom of the risks associated with this process and our wider reliance on waste export markets.
“This is not only an unsustainable approach which comes with economic, environmental and reputational risks, but the markets for this waste are increasingly unreliable and volatile. They can be subject to the vagaries of European weather and resulting market demand and in some cases RDF imports are now being taxed by the receiving countries. The UK Committee on Climate Change recommended that waste exports be phased out all altogether.”
In line with Northern Ireland Government policy, Indaver believes that like most councils in the rest of the UK, implementing a local solution would deliver self-reliance, economies of scale and enable NI to increase recycling levels and ensure we recover energy from NI waste locally, benefiting both the environment and the economy.
Colin O’Hanlon added; “Unlike the current wastewater crisis, there is a ready-made solution waiting to be implemented. That solution is the £250 million arc21 residual waste project, which presents an opportunity to showcase how private-sector investment can drive public benefit, delivering long-term value and leaving a valuable asset in public ownership.
“The project simply requires a Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Ministerial signature in the near future to deliver a robust and evidence-based planning decision. This will allow it to progress to the next stage of procurement where a business case evaluation will trigger a democratic decision by the arc21 councils to decide if it progresses.”
To read more about the project and Northern Ireland’s waste infrastructure needs you can view and download the Indaver report: Tipping Point – NI’s Looming Waste Crisis: The Case for Critical Waste Infrastructure for Northern Ireland here www.becon.co.uk
You can also add your support for the project to help ensure Northern Ireland manages its waste sustainably rather than relying on unreliable waste export markets. The link below will allow you to send a letter of support to the planning file here