Help to reduce the council's £3m landfill costs

It's been a very busy day across all of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council's Household Recycling Centres (HRC) as people '˜wrap up' their festive packaging and not only help to protect the environment, but also save ratepayers money too.
Help reduce the council's landfill costs.Help reduce the council's landfill costs.
Help reduce the council's landfill costs.

In its determination to meet recycling targets and thereby reduce the cost of waste going to landfill whilst increasing revenue-generating kerb side recycling, the council has been urging the fullest use of the various recycling centres across the borough.

With the Christmas holiday just over, hundreds of people have been taking their waste for recycling rather than just disposing in the bin.

A spokesperson for the council said: “This is very welcome indeed and is just a continuation of all our work to date.

“The only day that all five of the centres were closed was Christmas Day itself to date, with the likes of our newly refurbished Sullatober HRC and the Waveney Road HRC in Ballymena staying open every day except December 25 and New Year’s Day, for added convenience.

“Even our award-winning Larne South HRC closes for only five out of the 14 days of the festive and New Year break overall.

“Pre-sort your recyclables before arrival at the HRC as that speeds up the process and helps us keep the traffic moving and be aware of what can and cannot be recycled.”

Polystyrene must be taken to the local HRC, so remove it and then use the kerbie for the actual packaging if that’s easier; real Christmas trees can be recycled for composting at the local HRC, cards and envelopes (windows removed) can also go into the kerbie and while wrapping paper isn’t always recyclable – as only 100 per cent paper can be processed – keep the laminated or plastic stuff and reuse it next year.

Wine bottles and other empties, such as food and juice cans can also go into the kerbie – or be taken to the HRC.

The spokesperson added: “It is no coincidence that Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s HRCs averaged a combined recycling rate of 73.9 per cent which is among the highest in any of the 11 local councils, and well above the 61 per cent average for Northern Ireland.

“Keep up the good work into a cleaner, greener and less costly 2017.”