Belfast Council Rolls Out New Recycling Scheme

About 55,000 homes in Belfast are to benefit from a new recycling scheme that will seek to maximise the amount of waste households can recycle.

The changes will be rolled out between August and November and will affect inner-city homes currently on a black recycling box collection, as well as apartments with communal recycling facilities.

Belfast Council says the city could double its recycling rate to 70% if everyone was to use the facilities provided by the council.

Councillor Steven Corr, chairman of the council’s Health and Environmental Services Committee, said: "We need the city’s recycling rate to be at least 50% by 2020` as required by EU legislation. If we fail to achieve that target, the council will face heavy fines and it’s inevitable that those fines will have to be passed on to ratepayers in some way.

"As it stands currently, we could recycle 70% of the waste we produce, but we’re only recycling half of that. We've reviewed our recycling service and have tried to come up with the best way for people to recycle at home, while at the same time trying to save council money which can be reinvested in other services, helping to create and sustain jobs and creating a cleaner, greener environment."

The new arrangements mean that by the end of 2013, every single household in the Belfast City Council area will be able to recycle food waste.

Councillor Corr added: "We appreciate that this will be a change for people and it will take a little while for the new arrangements to bed in, but I would encourage everyone to get onboard with us and if they’re not already recycling, to take this opportunity to start.

"Every lorry road of rubbish we take to landfill costs us £900; a lorry load of recyclable waste costs £100 – 90% less, representing massive savings for ratepayers. We need people to do their part and help us make the new recycling service a success."

In line with the rest of the city, black bin collections in these areas will also change from weekly to fortnightly to allow for the anticipated reduction in black bin waste with the new recycling arrangements.

(IT/CD)