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Published - September 2024

Performance Improvement Self-Assessment Report

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

General duty/ continuous improvement

Achieved

Strategic effectiveness

Achieved

Service quality and availability

Achieved

Fairness

Achieved

Sustainability

Achieved

Efficiency

Achieved

Innovation

Achieved

Performance improvement summary 

17 Milestones

  • 13 (76 per cent) milestones were achieved.
  • 4 (24 per cent) milestones were partially achieved.

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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).

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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. 

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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. 

Percentage of household waste collected that is sent for recycling (or prepared for re-use) (increase) – statutory indicator [Footnote 12]
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. 

Amount of (tonnage) biodegradable council collected waste that is landfilled (reduce) – statutory indicator [Footnote 14]
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. 

Amount (tonnage) of council collected municipal waste arisings (reduce) – statutory indicator [Footnote 17]
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.

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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).

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