It’s only been a fortnight since Banbridge District Council rolled out a new kerbside recycling scheme to households in the district. But, even in this short period, council officials are already hailing it a phenomenal success because of the increased tonnage of recyclable materials being collected.

Councillor David Herron, Chair of the Environmental Services Committee, said: “Householders throughout the district have been absolutely fantastic in terms of their level of engagement and the waste collected has exceeded our most optimistic expectations. We cannot thank the public enough because their support and participation is essential.” 

The new service, which commenced on Monday 2 April for half the district and on Monday 9 April for the other half, is unique in many ways. It has been designed to maximise recycling of waste from the home in the most user friendly and cost-effective way, with the brown bin containing all garden and food waste and the green bin containing all dry recyclable waste being collected together on the same day of the week.
 
David Lindsay, Director of Environmental Services, has indicated that the recycling participation rate on most bin collection routes has been in excess of 90% with the majority leaving out both their new green bins containing the full range of dry recyclable materials, along with their brown bin containing food waste as well as garden waste. 

The figures from the first two weeks of recycling collections indicate a massive 61% rise in the amount of dry recyclable material collected from homes, compared with the amount collected through the previous kerbside box scheme. The overall rise breaks down to an increase in kerbside glass recycling of around 36% and an increase in the recycling of other dry recyclable materials in the region of 74%.  Even if there is no improvement in this position as the new service progresses and the level of recycling was to go no higher, this would equate to an enormous annual increase in the amount of material recycled by the residents of the district of around 1,300 tonnes. 

Mr Lindsay however claims that “As recycling fever spreads to every home in our district and recycling becomes firmly embedded as an unbreakable ‘habit’ for every resident both young and old, we firmly believe that the district’s recycling rate will rise even further through our new kerbside recycling service.” 

Unbelievably, Mr Lindsay has highlighted that one of the most common questions that the public are now asking is ‘What’s left to put in the black bin?’ and the response  to this is ‘Very little!’
 
The level of ‘contamination’ of recycling bins with the wrong materials has been very low indeed and this is testament to the comprehensive education and publicity campaign delivered by the council prior to the launch of the new service as well as the outstanding diligence and enthusiasm of the public. 

A couple of issues that the council would like to highlight are the fact that plastic bags and polystyrene cannot be recycled through the scheme and should be placed in the black bin rather than the green bin.  Also, the inner caddy that sits in the top of the green bin should only be used for glass bottles and jars and all other types of recyclable materials should be dropped down into the main part of the green bin itself.
 
The council has in some ways been a ‘victim’ of the overwhelming success of its new scheme and as a consequence residents are asked not to panic if, particularly in the first few weeks, their green and brown recycling bins aren’t collected at precisely the same time as they have been used to.  The council has issued assurance that all recycling bins will be collected and very importantly, the valuable materials contained in them will be recycled into new products. 
 
David Lindsay has echoed Councillor Herron’s praise of the district’s recycling householders and adds: “If you haven’t starting using the new kerbside recycling service, or aren’t yet using it to the maximum, please join in with everyone else in the Banbridge District and help make us the recycling capital of the UK.”

Contact:
Banbridge District Council 
T: 4066 0600