An updated market report by the UK’s independent waste and bioenergy sector advisors, Tolvik Consulting has confirmed that Northern Ireland needs the proposed arc21 residual waste treatment facility if it is to deliver the waste management strategy and meet Circular Economy targets which have recently been adopted into Northern Ireland law.

Details of the report were shared recently by Indaver, the lead company behind the £240m Becon project who also emphasised the pressing need for a fully integrated waste management system to cope with Northern Ireland’s growing waste and to avoid a future crisis in waste management. 

Tolvik’s detailed analysis, using the latest local authority data for 2020 and which covers the lockdown period has categorically concluded that even if the arc21 project is delivered as planned there will still be a residual waste treatment capacity ‘gap’ in Northern Ireland of 124,000 tonnes in 2035.  The projections of waste arisings consider projected household changes, anticipated recycling increases and both Brexit and covid implications. Importantly, they also considered the current capacity of all existing Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities including the Full Circle Generation plant in Belfast.

 The report projects that by 2035 when Northern Ireland must achieve the ambitious Circular Economy Municipal Waste recycling target of 65% we will still produce over 500,000 tonnes of residual waste annually that cannot be recycled and will therefore require alternative treatment.