To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail (i) the percentage of recyclable materials generated in Northern Ireland that is recycled in (a) Northern Ireland; (b) the Republic of Ireland; (c) the UK; and (d) elsewhere; and (iii) what safeguards are in place to ensure the material sent outside of Northern Ireland is recycled as opposed to disposed of in another way.

Robust data is collected from all 11 councils on municipal recycling. At present there is no mandatory requirement for any other sectors to report on the recycling of waste generated in Northern Ireland, therefore, the data available is limited largely to household waste.

From the Local Authority Collected Municipal Waste (LACMW) data in 2022/23:

75% of this material was recycled in Northern Ireland

2.4% of this material was sent to Republic of Ireland for recycling.

5.6% of this material was sent to Great Britain for recycling with the total UK figure being 80.6%.

17% of this material was sent elsewhere for recycling.

For waste movements outside of NI but inside the UK i.e. to GB there is a Duty of Care and associated code of practice in NI. Waste destined for international recycling must comply with the requirements of the 1013/2006 Waste Shipment Regulations. There are assurances and checks in place as part of this process which is regulated by NIEA. Assurances include quality checks on NI waste prior to export, verification checks of destination recycling sites and liaison with the competent authorities in destination and transit countries.

Yours sincerely