To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what steps his Department is taking to prevent littering by those using outdoor recreational spaces.

DAERA uses a combined approach of legislation, education & awareness, and enforcement to tackle litter including:

The Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act (NI) 2011 enables Council fines of up to £80 or court fines of up to £2,500 for littering. DAERA is currently reviewing the fixed penalty notices available to Councils to penalise offenders.

In 2013 DAERA introduced the 5p carrier bag levy. This has reduced the number of carrier bags dispensed by over 1 billion since its introduction, and generated millions of pounds for environmental work (including anti-litter projects).

DAERA works closely with Councils & environmental NGOs to develop and support educational & promotional campaigns aimed at achieving behavioural change. The Environment Fund directly supports ‘Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful’ (KNIB) which runs a number of programmes, including: ‘Eco-Schools’; ‘Live Here, Love Here’; ‘Clean Coast’; & ‘Adopt-A-Spot’ projects.

Over £3m has been awarded to KNIB since 2007/8 with additional current funding of over £1m to further support its campaigns. These make environmental awareness & action an intrinsic part of the life and ethos of our schools & communities, and focus on practical, positive environmental behavioural change.

DAERA supports the ‘Big Spring Clean’ – NI's largest community clean-up campaign - which involves 100,000+ volunteers every year.

KNIB receives DAERA funding to produce the annual Marine Litter Report which contains counts of litter items, litter types and geographical breakdown of the litter items.

DAERA’s Marine Division produced NI’s first Marine Litter Strategy in 2013. The Strategy is delivered through a coalition of partners.

In addition, DAERA is working with ‘TourismNI’ to promote the message “Be Outdoor Smart – Leave No Trace – Love The Place” which reinforces our objective of encouraging everyone to look after our environment – particularly during the current pandemic.

The Department has also issued a series of communications, delivered by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), to support waste management and recycling behaviours and to combat fly-tipping and littering. A flyer was sent to every household in Northern Ireland with details of how to manage waste and recycling during the Covid-19 crisis. There were also radio adverts on local stations and a range of social media posts on various platforms highlighting the problems of fly-tipping, littering and illegal waste dumping.

We all have our part to play and the Department is committed to promoting and funding environmental education and action and building civic pride. New options for tackling litter will be considered in the Environment Strategy for Northern Ireland which is due to be consulted upon in late spring.