Waste Management Strategy 2006 to 2020

On 30 March 2006, Richard Rogers launched Towards Resource Management: The Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy 2006 - 2020 (.PDF 2.06Mb) at Stormont.

The new Waste Management Strategy highlights the need to increase waste recycling and recovery in a number of ways that include:

• the renewal of recycling targets
• focused awareness campaigns
• the possible introduction of incentive schemes

A set of waste stream summaries highlighted in the strategy set out how to manage your waste.
These summaries have been published in Volume 2: Waste Stream Summaries (.PDF 2.30Mb).

Northern Ireland Civil Service Departmental Waste Management Action Plans

The Department of Environment published its Waste Management Action Plan in November 2004. The plan identifies specific targets and initiatives for:

• waste reduction
• reuse
• recycling

The development of Northern Ireland Civil Service Departmental Waste Management Action Plan's (.PDF 243Kb) in March 2006 is the Government's way to provide a consistent approach to improve sustainability.

2006 DOE 'Follow-up' Solid Waste Audit Report

Waste Management practices within the Department of Environment and its agencies were audited during 2006.

The audit was designed to evaluate change in practice and the effectiveness of the Department's action plan.

• 2006 DOE Waste Audit Report (.doc 2.10Mb)
• Waste Compositional Data (.xls 910Kb)
• WMP PRESS RELEASE 20 Dec 2006 (.PDF 19.3Kb)

Information on Strategy before 2006 Waste Management Strategy 2000 - 2006

In March 2000 the Department of Environment (DOE) published the first Waste Management Strategy for Northern Ireland. This set out how we should manage our waste based on the Waste Management Hierarchy. Due to the radical changes the 2000 Strategy introduced, it was subject to a review in 2003. The review was carried out by the DOE and was assigned by the independent Waste Management Advisory Board.

The review reports:

• Waste Management Advisory Boards review report, published June 28 2004 (.PDF 1.09Mb)
• DOE report - Reflections on the Waste Management Advisory Board Strategy Review Report (.PDF 1.16Mb)

Waste Prevention

The waste management advisory board review identified the need for a greater emphasis on Waste Prevention in the new strategy. The Department recognises the importance of waste prevention.

In October 2004 the Department embarked on an extensive consultation with key stakeholders to identify the most appropriate way forward for Northern Ireland to encourage all sectors to prevent waste.

In August 2005 the Department published a Framework for Waste Prevention in Northern Ireland setting out a model to achieve waste prevention and the key priorities to support all sectors.

• Framework for Waste Prevention (.PDF 471Kb)

Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO)

In shaping the newly revised waste management strategy, the DOE published further guidance on Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) for waste management in Northern Ireland in June 2005.

The guidance provides a framework for identifying the optimum balance of recycling and recovery infrastructure capacity to meet targets for municipal waste, commercial and industrial waste and construction, demolition and excavation wastes.

Guidance documents:

• Department's Northern Ireland-wide BPEO Guidance Document (.PDF 652Kb)
• Supporting Technical Report (June 2005) (.PDF 1.81Mb)