Delaying implementing what our neighbours across these islands see as necessary waste infrastructure for a modern society makes for inefficiency and a major loss to our local economy. These delays run counter to achieving key targets related to advancing the circular economy and mitigating climate change.
For example, the delay in securing planning for proposed waste treatment facilities at Hightown Quarry, Mallusk means currently the six councils that make up arc21 are sending considerable amounts of black bin waste to Scandinavia where it is used as a fuel for heat and power for the benefit of citizens there. This situation has arisen despite arc21 having submitted a planning application over a decade ago to develop local waste treatment infrastructure and having received four sets of recommendations for approval from planning officials.
The opportunities to advance a circular economy and prepare to deliver the climate change act targets are being damaged. I’d previously called out this lack of development of indigenous infrastructure as a “waste crisis”, not unlike that relating to new water and wastewater infrastructure. For now, we’ve managed to implement short–term arrangements with local contractors. This situation, combined with what’s happening in Lough Neagh and more widely, does little for Northern Ireland’s reputation as a custodian of the environment. The ongoing saga of the Mobuoy illegal landfilling scandal which, although identified in 2013, has not yet been resolved provides a salutary lesson on the need to ensure that properly regulated infrastructure is in place to control and manage our waste.
arc21 identified in its most recent corporate plan 2024–2028 that “while the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) again reconsider the planning application for the waste facilities at Mallusk, longer–term, [the alternative arrangements which have been put in place by arc21] expose the Councils to greater risk while simultaneously leaving them less resilient.”
This is a cause of concern for arc21’s councils which must manage at least 15 million black bins’ worth of rubbish every year. And while Northern Ireland’s recycling rate has now reached 50%, it has not increased for several years. Similarly, the amount of waste we produce is not decreasing meaning that, unsurprisingly, waste management continues to make up a sizeable proportion of councils’ budgets, estimated at between 15–20% of total council expenditure.
Regarding a solution, the current approach for managing the black bin waste is reliant upon export – which flies in the face of self–sufficiency and proximity principles which are consistent that waste be dealt with as close to its point of production (in a UK context, the “rectification at source principle”). Reliance on export could become increasingly unpredictable and unreliable and, indeed the Climate Change Committee has recommended it end by 2030.
Elsewhere in GB, Ireland and Europe the opportunities of managing waste as a resource have been grasped. This is where our reliance upon the export of materials – both treated residual waste and recyclates – overseas effectively stymies our attempts to develop an indigenous market for these items. In 2023, Northern Ireland exported around 250,000 tonnes of waste, and the proportion which was black bin waste was used as fuel for European energy from waste facilities, where it generated electricity and provided low carbon district heating. Should the rate of export continue to rise as local landfill sites close, in the absence of viable local infrastructure, this loss of an energy resource will only grow further.
If these practices expand, it will limit the realisation of the draft Circular Economy Strategy (2023), as drafted by the Department of the Economy. Across Europe and beyond, and in certain industries, waste is increasingly considered a resource and, as a result, public attitudes are changing considerably. Such a shift is long overdue here and this is impeding the realisation of new jobs and other opportunities in Northern Ireland.
The simple fact is that across the UK in general and in Northern Ireland specifically there is a lack of infrastructure to deal with the range of materials to realise them as useable resources by recovering marketable paper, glass, plastics and metals, and thermal energy and gases. And given the volume of waste surrounding us which only becomes apparent when collection systems stop (think of what has happened in Birmingham in the last few weeks), we frequently underestimate the scale of infrastructure needed to both deal with this and changes in the supply of materials on the global marketplace. This is where, as a sector, we have been a victim of our own success in “magicking” away materials every day.
Returning to the infrastructure proposed for Hightown Quarry in Mallusk, this would provide the arc21 councils with a safe and legally compliant range of modern facilities and allow them to valorise waste by creating new jobs and revenue streams, while also reducing risks associated with export and increasing resilience. Sure, there will be capital costs of some £250millon but this is going to be provided by a private sector investor and, as per a mortgage, there is a schedule of regular payments which would repay this sum over a set period, at the end of which the facilities would be owned by the councils. Not only would this manage the councils’ waste in compliant and auditable facilities, it would also provide budget certainty for the councils and offer revenue generating and sharing mechanisms.
Such infrastructure could also open the possibility of value–added services to support Northern Ireland’s decarbonisation aspirations, such as low carbon heat energy.
There is no doubt that the challenges ahead mean we have now reached a junction where a choice needs to be made. There is significant pressure on our councils to comply with recycling and other environmental and public health imperatives, which could be met by developing local infrastructure in line with the environmental principles of proximity and self–sufficiency. Alternatively we can continue to limit our ambition and rely upon exporting materials overseas where it is out of sight and out of mind but where it risks undermining our reputation as a green and pleasant land
Waste management has long been the Cinderella of Northern Ireland’s infrastructure. But, as per elsewhere in the UK, it is critical that we invest in facilities if we want to develop a modern and progressive economy. We have an important choice to make.
Tim Walker, Chief Executive, arc21 and current Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) President
arc21 is a statutory waste management group which represents six Northern Ireland councils: Belfast City Council, Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council, Ards and North Down Borough Council, Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council and Newry Mournes and Down District Council.
