Waste Management

What Waste Management covers

Waste Management is examined in Unit A2 1, Building and Managing a Sustainable Future, a written examination. It covers landfill dependence and the landfill tax, waste types, priority waste streams and EU directives, the waste management hierarchy, recycling at a Materials Recovery Facility, landfill decomposition, methane and leachate and engineered landfill: dry tomb and bioreactor designs.

The 6 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Landfill dependence and the landfill taxNorthern Ireland's past reliance on landfill and its current rates, why landfill is unsustainable, siting conditions and NIMBY objections, the landfill tax and its 2026 rate, NILAS, and landfill tax and diversion calculations.Open →
• Waste types, priority waste streams and EU directivesMunicipal, hazardous, inert and biodegradable waste, Northern Ireland's priority waste streams and producer responsibility, the Waste Framework and Landfill Directives, the carrier bag levy and the Circular Economy Package.Open →
• The waste management hierarchyPrevention, preparing for reuse, recycling, energy recovery and disposal in order, why each is ranked where it is, when a lower option is justified, the circular economy, and the hierarchy applied to a plastic bottle and food waste.Open →
• Recycling at a Materials Recovery FacilityClean and dirty MRFs, trommel screens, paper separation, overband magnets and eddy current separators, plastic sorting, glass, aluminium and paper recycling, reprocessing, and contamination with a worked rate.Open →
• Landfill decomposition, methane and leachateThe aerobic, acid and methane-producing stages of decomposition, the composition of landfill gas, methane as a greenhouse gas, leachate, and how moisture, waste type, temperature, pH, rainfall and compaction control breakdown.Open →
• Engineered landfill: dry tomb and bioreactor designsLiners, leachate collection and treatment, cells and daily cover, gas collection, flaring and energy use, borehole monitoring, and the dry tomb and bioreactor designs compared.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Waste Management further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Dry tomb landfill vs Bioreactor landfill

  Dry tomb landfill: a sealed disposal site that keeps water out so buried rubbish barely decomposes. Bioreactor landfill: a disposal site where recirculated liquid speeds decomposition of buried rubbish.

• Leachate vs Landfill gas

  Leachate: polluted liquid draining from decomposing buried waste. Landfill gas: methane and carbon dioxide released by decomposing buried waste.

• Clean MRF vs Dirty MRF

  Clean MRF: a sorting plant receiving recyclables already separated by households. Dirty MRF: a sorting plant recovering recyclables from mixed residual waste.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Why has Northern Ireland historically relied so heavily on landfill?

   Model answer

   Landfill was long the cheapest and simplest disposal route, and suitable quarries and land were available. Little recycling or energy recovery infrastructure existed until the 2000s.

2. 2

   How has the share of council-collected waste sent to landfill in Northern Ireland changed?

   Model answer

   DAERA figures show the landfill rate fell from 74.0% in 2006/07 to 14.0% in 2024/25. Most diverted waste now goes to recycling or energy recovery.

3. 3

   What were Northern Ireland's recycling and energy recovery rates for council-collected waste in 2024/25?

   Model answer

   DAERA reported that 50.4% of council-collected waste was sent for recycling in 2024/25. A further 34.3% went to energy recovery.

4. 4

   Why is over-reliance on landfill unsustainable?

   Model answer

   Landfill wastes materials and energy that could be recovered. Buried biodegradable waste produces methane and leachate for decades, and landfill space is running out.

5. 5

   Why is it difficult to find sites for new landfills in Northern Ireland?

   Model answer

   Local residents usually object to the noise, odour, traffic, litter and vermin a landfill brings. Planning approval is therefore slow and uncertain.

6. 6

   What geological and hydrological conditions does a new landfill site need?

   Model answer

   A landfill needs low-permeability ground, such as clay, and a deep water table. A site must avoid aquifers, floodplains and springs so that leachate cannot reach water supplies.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Waste Management revision questions

What does Waste Management cover in CCEA A-Level Environmental Technology?

6 subtopics: landfill dependence and the landfill tax, waste types, priority waste streams and eu directives, the waste management hierarchy, recycling at a materials recovery facility, landfill decomposition, methane and leachate and engineered landfill: dry tomb and bioreactor designs. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Waste Management organised?

By the CCEA 3930 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.