Largest recycling facility opens in Northern Ireland

Environment Minister, Edwin Poots, who officially opened the plant, said he hopes it will help the country meet its "stringent European recycling targets". Northern Ireland has statutory targets, set out in its Waste Management Strategy of reducing the quantity of landfilled biodegradable waste to 50 per cent of 1995 levels by 2013 and by another 35 per cent by 2020.

The new facility, situated on a 13.7 acre site of the former Glenside Quarry in Belfast, will reduce harmful CO2 emissions in Northern Ireland by 25,000 tonnes annually – the equivalent of taking 6,000 cars off the road each year.

A total of 60,000 tonnes of bio-waste, such as food and garden waste, collected from households across Northern Ireland will be recycled each year at the facility, which is being developed by Natural World Products (NWP). The bio-waste is being diverted from landfill and will now be recycled by NWP into high quality compost and sold in garden centres as compost as well as being used as top soil for some of Northern Ireland’s leading golf courses.

Director of NWP, Caolan Woods, said: “This will position Northern Ireland favourably in meeting stringent recycling targets set by Europe. The public will now be more encouraged by the advanced recycling infrastructure and resources to play their part in creating an environmentally sustainable future.”

Poots added: “This recycling facility, the largest of its kind in Northern Ireland, will go a long way to helping us reach those targets and each year will recycle 60,000 tonnes of organic waste."

Northern Ireland also looks likely to set some tough renewable energy targets, with a proposed 40 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2020, as set out in the draft Strategic Energy Framework. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment says that this target should be firmed up early next year.

Poots commented in September: “I am fully aware that more needs to be achieved over the next 10 years if we are to meet the 40 per cent target of electricity generation from renewable sources by 2020 set out in the Draft Strategic Energy Framework. While other renewable energy technologies will play an increasingly important role, I believe it is the mature technology of wind energy that will provide the most significant contribution toward the achievement of this target.”

Overall, the UK has target of 15 percent of energy from renewables by 2020, while Scotland aims to generate 50 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2020.