Objective 4: Our environment
Achievement of improvement objective
Improvement objective 4
Our environment: Help tackle climate change, protect our environment, and improve the sustainability of Belfast.
Self-assessment
Achieved – we helped tackle climate change, protect our environment, and improve the sustainability of Belfast.
Aspect of improvement
| Aspect of improvement | Achievement status |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
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Achieved |
General duty/ continuous improvement
Strategic effectiveness
Service quality and availability
Fairness
Sustainability
Efficiency
InnovationPerformance improvement summary
17 Milestones
- 13 (76 per cent) milestones were achieved.
- 4 (24 per cent) milestones were partially achieved.
7 Performance Indicators (target)
- 5 (72 per cent) were on target or exceeded target (within 1 per cent or better)
- 1 (14 per cent) was slightly adrift of target (between 1 per cent and 5 per cent)
- 1 (14 per cent) was adrift of target (5 per cent or more).
7 Performance Indicators (trend)
- 2 (28 per cent) performance indicators showed a positive change
- 3 (43 per cent) performance indicators showed no significant change or maintained a similar level of performance as previous years
- 2 (29 per cent) performance indicators showed a negative change.
Achievement of improvement objective 4 milestones
1. Climate change
- Achieved - Developed and completed a Climate Risk Assessment for the council estate and operations.
- Achieved - A draft Climate Action Plan is being developed internally with council departments.
- Partially achieved - The Climate Investment Plan has been postponed pending results of the energy audits as there is currently insufficient information available to properly cost the action plan and develop an investment plan.
- Achieved - Undertaking Energy audits on four key parts of the council estate.
- Achieved - Allocated £697,194.70 to a climate fund to support climate initiatives across the council. Funded 19 projects via the Climate fund with a further 10 applications under review by the Climate Programme Board, examples include: Pilot to improve recycling rates, period waste product and paint re-use.
- Achieved - Maintained an ‘A’ grade in the Carbon Disclosure Project, achieved the highest score in UK Climate Action Scorecards for the whole of NI and achieved Silver in the 2023 NI Environmental Benchmarking Survey.
2. Protected our environment
- Partially achieved - Progressed the scoping of a project to deliver the Belfast Open Spaces Strategy action plan. This milestone will be in next year’s improvement plan.
- Partially achieved - Secured additional resources following a capacity review of biodiversity duty. Progressed an action plan in partnership with the Climate Action Team.
- Achieved - Completed the transition of 85 per cent of council fleet to alternative or greener fuels.
- Achieved - Completed and launched the Belfast Tree Strategy.
- Achieved - Commenced delivery of year 1 of the Belfast Tree Strategy action plan, including:
- Developing a tree canopy mapping/ tree establishment strategy for soft and hard landscapes.
- Introducing changes to the tree health and condition survey cycles for both council trees and for street trees belonging to the DfI.
- As part of Belfast One Millions Trees initiative, we:
- Achieved - Conducted a series of woodland management plans and site assessments. Launched Belfast’s tree equity score and used the information to carry out a tree planting opportunity mapping. Requested funding from the Climate Fund to deliver site assessments and planting plans during 2024-25.
- Achieved - Planted 27,941 trees through community, corporate and school planting programme. This includes the additional planting from partners (estimated 10,000) in the 2023-24 season. The exact figure will be confirmed following the annual tree count.
3. Increased recycling and managed our waste
- Partially achieved - Submitted Kerbside sortation model for recycling report – options and a way forward to be agreed for approval.
- Achieved - Implemented the waste management contract to divert from landfill for 10 months, resulting in a significant reduction in landfill.
- Achieved - Completed the paint reuse scheme phase 1 and phase 2 implementation is due in 2024-25. The reuse IT device scheme is ongoing within council (promoting a circular economy).
- Achieved - Produced a report regarding the proposal for single-use plastics policy of the council, to be considered by the council’s corporate management team.
Improvement objective 4 indicators and performance measures
|
Performance indicators |
2020-21 |
2021-22 |
2022-23 |
2023-24 Target |
2023-24 Actual [Footnote 9] |
Trend |
Commentary if target not met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
One Million Trees Programme - number of trees planted per annum |
39,000 |
24,000 |
63,500 |
45,000 |
27,941 Adrift of target (5% or more) |
Negative change |
Includes an estimated 10,000 trees from partnerships. The exact figure will be confirmed following the annual tree count. Whilst delays in the implementation of the Tree Strategy has impacted tree planting during 2023-24, this strategy provides a more evidence-based approach to achieving long-term outcomes from tree planting. |
|
Carbon disclosure project (CDP) score |
- |
B |
A |
A |
A On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
No significant change |
Not applicable |
|
Northern Ireland environmental benchmarking survey rating |
- |
- |
- |
Silver |
Silver On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
No significant change |
Not applicable |
|
% of council fleet fuel consumed that is HVO |
- |
- |
- |
90% |
90.2% On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
Positive change |
Not applicable |
| Statutory performance indicators | 2020-21 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 target | 2023-2024 actual [Footnote 9] | Trend | Commentary if target not met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
% of household waste collected that is sent for recycling (or prepared for re-use) (increase) |
43% | 41% | 41% | 42% |
41% On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
No significant change |
An increase of just over 0.5% was achieved. Again, this uplift is largely a result of the interim residual waste treatment contract with more residual waste being processed by the contractor and as this waste is processed the contractor extracts recyclables from the waste stream. We have a range of ongoing local and regional programmes to change behaviour and increase opportunities to reuse and recycle such as school education visits, pilot street recycling schemes and circular economy projects, as well as enforcement. We continue to engage at a regional level on the development of a waste management policy and strategy for Northern Ireland. Provisional data subject to review by the regulator (Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DEARA)) - normally November 2024. |
| Amount of (tonnage) biodegradable council collected waste that is landfilled (reduce) | 30,071 | 35,783 | 28,444 | 28,000 |
7,218 On target or exceeded target (within 1% or better) |
Positive change |
The amount of biodegradable waste disposed of at landfill fell by 75%, the lowest level recorded to date. This was achieved through the award of the new interim residual waste treatment contract which involves the treatment of all residual waste, and none sent directly to landfill. Provisional data subject to review by the regulator (NIEA and DEARA) - normally November 2024. |
| Statutory performance indicators | 2020-21 | 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 target | 2023-2024 actual [Footnote 10] | Trend | Commentary if target not met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Amount (tonnage) of council collected municipal waste arisings (reduce) |
171,795 |
168,037 | 157,892 | 158,000 |
160,282 Slightly adrift of target (between 1% and 5%) |
Negative change |
Increased by 1.5%. This is determined by the weather as there has been an influx of garden waste across all councils due to the warm weather and heavy rain. Suggests that waste arisings are starting to rise to the levels witnessed before the abnormally low level of 2022-23. We have a range of ongoing local and regional programmes to change behaviour, prevent waste arising and increase opportunities to reuse and recycle such as school education visits, pilot street recycling schemes and circular economy projects, as well as enforcement. We continue to engage at a regional level on the development of a waste management policy and strategy for Northern Ireland. Provisional data subject to review by the regulator (NIEA and DEARA) - normally November 2024. |
How we compared – performance benchmarking
Excepting Covid-19, councils have been recycling more, sending less waste to landfill, and reducing the amount of waste collected since Local Government Reform in 2015-16. Collectively, councils have also exponentially increased the amount of waste sent for energy recovery from zero before 2009-10 to approximately 34 per cent in 2023-24 [Footnote 11].
Belfast is consistent with these regional trends and our performance in relation to the other councils over the preceding six years is as follows.
| Council area | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-2024[Footnote 13] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 56.1 | 57.3 | 56.9 | 60.2 | 60.1 | 60.9 |
| Ards and North Down | 53.1 | 54.7 | 51.0 | 48.3 | 51.9 | 55.1 |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 51.6 | 54.8 | 54.3 | 53.5 | 54.2 | 55.6 |
| Belfast | 44.4 | 45.4 | 43.0 | 41.0 | 40.8 | 41.1 |
| Causeway Coast and Glens | 47.7 | 53.8 | 53.9 | 52.3 | 52.7 | 49.6 |
| Derry City and Strabane | 44.3 | 44.2 | 46.1 | 45.1 | 46.0 | 48.2 |
| Fermanagh and Omagh | 49.3 | 49.1 | 47.3 | 47.7 | 47.5 | 46.7 |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 48.1 | 50.8 | 50.4 | 49.7 | 50.5 | 50.9 |
| Mid and East Antrim | 52.0 | 51.4 | 50.8 | 51.9 | 51.7 | 50.7 |
| Mid Ulster | 56.0 | 58.8 | 58.9 | 58.2 | 58.4 | 58.6 |
| Newry, Mourne and Down | 51.4 | 53.7 | 51.9 | 49.8 | 49.6 | 50.0 |
| Northern Ireland | 50.0 | 51.9 | 50.9 | 50.1 | 50.7 | 51.1 |
Our achievements include: We have maintained a relatively consistent household recycling rate since the reform of Local Government in 2015-16. There has been an overall reduction in recycling in Belfast since 2018-19, plateauing at approximately 41 per cent over the last three years. However, Belfast’s recycling rate improved by just over 0.5 per cent between 2022-23 and 2023-24. We have a range of ongoing local and regional programmes to change behaviour and increase opportunities to reuse and recycle such as school education visits, pilot street recycling schemes and circular economy projects.
During 2023-24, the highest recycling rate was recorded in Antrim and Newtownabbey, with the lowest in Belfast. 8 out of the 11 councils improved their recycling rates compared to the preceding year, including Belfast. Four councils, including Belfast, were below the Northern Ireland recycling rate, and the target that was set in the Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy to achieve 50 per cent recycling by 2020.
All councils are still some distance from achieving the target set in the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 of recycling at least 70 per cent of waste by 2030.
| Council area | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 [Footnote 15] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 11,622 | 10,988 | 12,540 | 12,369 | 12,161 | 11,458 |
| Ards and North Down | 19,186 | 15,762 | 19,873 | 20,262 | 17,124 | 14,413 |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 8,771 | 6,104 | 4,339 | 6,919 | 3,635 | 2,580 |
| Belfast | 36,658 | 30,299 | 30,071 | 35,783 | 28,444 | 7,218 |
| Causeway Coast and Glens | 14,356 | 10,004 | 5,861 | 10,278 | 9,232 | 10,418 |
| Derry City and Strabane | 10,974 | 7,964 | 4,802 | 8,299 | 5,310 | 4,076 |
| Fermanagh and Omagh | 13,677 | 13,473 | 14,410 | 14,026 | 13,579 | 14,773 |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 16,108 | 14,373 | 15,967 | 14,737 | 14,240 | 14,023 |
| Mid and East Antrim | 14,444 | 13,684 | 14,508 | 14,495 | 14,596 | 15,239 |
| Mid Ulster | 5,681 | 1,505 | 1,494 | 1,537 | 1,285 | 369 |
| Newry, Mourne and Down | 1,846 | 2,131 | 2,538 | 2,685 | 2,319 | 937 |
| Northern Ireland | 153,323 | 126,286 | 126,404 | 141,390 | 121,925 | 95,504 |
Our achievements include: The majority of councils are reducing the amount of biodegradable waste that is landfilled with a reduction from 218,898 tonnes in 2015-16 to 95,504 tonnes in 2023-24 [Footnote 16]. Following the award of the new interim residual waste treatment contract which involves the treatment of all residual waste and none sent directly to landfill, Belfast showed a distinct improvement by reducing biodegradable waste to landfill from 45,231 tonnes in 2015-16 to 7,218 tonnes in 2023-24.
| Council area | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 [Footnote 18] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 98,224 | 102,267 | 95,468 | 106,804 | 100,076 | 106,040 |
| Ards and North Down | 87,338 | 86,698 | 93,705 | 91,434 | 85,976 | 83,895 |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 105,828 | 106,742 | 113,712 | 115,327 | 103,379 | 112,335 |
| Belfast | 171,118 | 168,515 | 171,795 | 168,037 | 157,892 | 160,282 |
| Causeway Coast and Glens | 81,432 | 81,279 | 81,611 | 80,884 | 81,063 | 80,596 |
| Derry City and Strabane | 78,660 | 81,304 | 83,989 | 83,540 | 79,114 | 81,027 |
| Fermanagh and Omagh | 55,931 | 55,224 | 58,108 | 58,211 | 55,362 | 56,521 |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 77,861 | 78,905 | 80,846 | 80,299 | 74,211 | 77,617 |
| Mid and East Antrim | 73,032 | 73,797 | 78,986 | 76,689 | 73,433 | 74,842 |
| Mid Ulster | 78,672 | 79,645 | 86,049 | 86,085 | 78,589 | 82,075 |
| Newry, Mourne and Down | 82,136 | 84,610 | 86,900 | 87,328 | 82,842 | 84,684 |
| Northern Ireland | 990,233 | 998,985 | 1,031,169 | 1,034,637 | 971,936 | 999,913 |
Our achievements include: The amount of waste collected by each council broadly reflects population levels within their boundaries – Belfast is historically inclined to have the highest, with Fermanagh and Omagh the lowest. Whilst there was a slight increase in our municipal waste arisings during 2023-24 for the reasons outlined above, there has been an overall reduction in the amount of municipal waste arisings since 2018-19 (consistent with the majority of other councils) and since the reform of Local Government in 2015-16. This is despite a population increase of 2.3 per cent (7811 people) in Belfast since 2015 [Footnote 19].
Local authority collected municipal waste energy recovery rate (per cent) [Footnote 20]
Our achievements include: Whilst it is preferable to prevent, reuse and recycle waste, generating energy from waste by incineration is preferable to landfill. The proportion of waste sent for energy recovery is a useful indicator to demonstrate that we helped to tackle climate change, protect our environment, and improve the sustainability of Belfast. In line with the Northern Ireland trend, we have increased the amount of waste sent for energy recovery from 0.3 per cent in 2009-10 and 22 per cent in 2015-16 to 62 per cent in 2023-24. Our performance in 2023-24 is an improvement of 29 percentage points on 33 per cent in 2022-23 and is significantly higher than the NI rate of 34 per cent.
Additional evidence of performance improvement aligned to objective 4
Further evidence to demonstrate that we helped to tackle climate change, protect our environment and improve the sustainability of Belfast is set out in our Belfast Agenda Progress Reports.
Progress against our Resilience Strategy is reported to the Climate and Resilience Committee and action taken to tackle climate change to date is summarised on our website: Climate change
Some examples of activity that have enhanced our environment and the sustainable quality of life and environment for ratepayers and communities, include:
- Secured the Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful Behaviour Change Award for our ‘impactful and pioneering’ pilot project which tackled single-use plastics.
- Launched the Hubbub Recycling on the Go Pilot that introduced 25 new recycling bins to the City Centre and four parks.
- Managed the pre-loved toy appeal for the second year and were inundated with donations to support local families during Christmas 2023.
Next Steps
As a result of extensive consultation and engagement ‘our planet’ is a strategic theme of the refreshed Belfast Agenda and is a key priority in the 2024 – 28 Corporate Plan (currently in draft). This improvement objective will feature in the Performance Improvement Plan 2024-25 as:
- We will champion climate action; protect the environment and improve the sustainability of Belfast.
Footnotes
[Footnote 9] Source DEARA LAC Municipal Waste Timeseries, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics time series data | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window) – provisional data (DEARA release final data in November annually).
[Footnote 10] Source DEARA LAC Municipal Waste Timeseries, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics time series data | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window) – provisional data (DEARA release final data in November annually).
[Footnote 11] Source DEARA LAC Municipal Waste Timeseries, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics time series data | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window) – provisional data (DEARA release final data in November annually).
[Footnote 12] Source DEARA Waste Management Statistics, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window)
[Footnote 13] Finalised 2023-24 data available from DEARA November 2024.
[Footnote 14] Source DEARA Waste Management Statistics, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window)
[Footnote 15] Source DEARA LAC Municipal Waste Timeseries, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics time series data | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window) – provisional data (DEARA release final data in November annually).
[Footnote 16] Source DEARA Waste Management Statistics, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window)
[Footnote 17] Source DEARA Waste Management Statistics, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window)
[Footnote 18] Source DEARA LAC Municipal Waste Timeseries, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics time series data | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window) – provisional data (DEARA release final data in November annually).
[Footnote 19] NISRA Population Estimates 2015-22 Population Estimates for Northern Ireland - Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (shinyapps.io) (link opens in new window)
[Footnote 20] Source DEARA LAC Municipal Waste Timeseries, Northern Ireland local authority collected municipal waste management statistics time series data | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (daera-ni.gov.uk) (link opens in new window) – provisional data (DEARA release final data in November annually).
