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EU Directives

European Union Policy provides the overarching framework for waste management practices in Northern Ireland.

The EC Directive on the Landfill of Waste aims to harmonise controls on the landfill of waste throughout the EU. It also aims to reduce the amount of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas emitted from landfill sites, by setting three progressive targets for member states to reduce the amount of their Biodegradable Municipal Waste sent to landfill. This reflects the UK's wider and legally binding target for reduction of greenhouse gases agreed at Kyoto in December 1997.

The EU Landfill Directive sets statutory targets for reducing the quantities of landfilled Biodegradable Municipal Waste to:

  • 75% of 1995 levels by 2010
  • 50% of 1995 levels by 2013
  • 35% of 1995 levels by 2020

The Northern Ireland Landfill Allowances Scheme, introduced in April 2005, sets the maximum amount of Biodegradable Municipal Waste that can be disposed of by councils to landfill in each of the scheme years.