FERMANAGH and Omagh District Council (FODC) is projecting it will not meet its landfill diversion target by the end of this financial year, at a potential cost of almost £61,000.


A Northern Ireland Allowance Scheme (NILAS) Target 2016/17 report brought before the Environmental Services Committee at the beginning of January explained the council’s household recycling rate for quarter one of this financial year had fallen by 3.3 per cent when compared to the same period in 2015/16.


Councils have been set challenging targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill by 895 tonnes per year until 2020.


Councils which fail to meet these targets could be fined around £150 per tonne for every tonne of waste that exceeds this set target.
According to the Council report, FODC achieved its target obligations under NILAS in 2015/16, but only with a surplus of 0.4 per cent, equating to 61 tonnes of spare allowance in real terms.


The report says although the Council is “confident” that after quarter two there will be a “return to the status quo”, it is projecting it will not meet its landfill diversion target by the end of March this year.
Another report on Municipal Waste Management Statistics, also brought before the Committee, notes that in 2015/16 FODC collected 29.01 per cent dry recycling -- an increase of 2.71 per cent on the previous year.
“This was the highest recorded dry recycling of the 11 councils,” says this report.


The council had a composting rate of 16.48 per cent in 2015/16. 
“The Council will expect a great improvement in this figure from April 1, 2017, as the Council extends the separate food waste collection across the district,” the report adds.


FODC is now looking at two options to ensure compliance with its statutory obligations.
Its first option is to divert around 1,200 tonnes of residual waste from landfill to Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).


“In accepting this option there will be an additional cost to FODC estimated in the region of £42,000,” says the NILAS report.
“There will also be an impact on the Tullyvar financial management projections for closure and aftercare costs,” it adds, estimating this to total £18,720 in loss of income.
“It should be noted that RDF, although satisfying the requirement for landfill diversion, will have a minimal benefit towards the FODC recycling rates,” says the NILAS report.


The Council’s second option is to utilise the possibility to transfer from neighbouring authorities who hold extensive surplus allowance due to substantial diversion to RDF processing.


The disadvantage in triggering this option however is that FODC is unable to identify a specific tonnage until end of year calculations have been completed and reported at the end of the summer.


“This increases the likelihood of negative publicity due to the failure of the Council to meet its diversionary targets independently while other councils will be reporting a successful outcome,” the report warns.


A recommendation to continue to use the Tullyvar site and implement a contingency plan to seek Transfer of Allowance from neighbouring councils will be considered at the next full council meeting in February.