Environment \ Environmental Services \ Recycling

Environmental Services

Recycling

Newry and Mourne District Council is embarking on a major waste management drive aimed at improving the environment and making the district a cleaner and better place to live in. The drive to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle waste has taken on added impetus in Ireland in recent years. The Council has been progressing with its waste management and recycling strategies to meet the targets set out by the EU. The progression has been steady, but has seen a substantial increase in recycling rates over the last few years.

The recycling rate now stands at 33%. The primary targets of the Northern Ireland Waste Management Strategy are the recycling of household waste.
35% by 2010
40% by 2015
45% by 2020

The targets for reducing biodegradable municipal wastes are:
75% of 1995 levels by 2010
50% of 1995 levels by 2013
35% of 1995 levels by 2020

By 2010, it is envisaged that 40% of household waste will be recovered, of which 25% will be by recycling or composting.

Newry and Mourne District Council currently have 7 Civic Amenity Sites (CAS’s) and 36 Recycling Bring Sites (RBS’s). Our CAS’s recycle more than 30 different types of material. Among the materials recycled are green waste, glass, paper, cardboard, wood and metal, textiles, mixed cans, batteries, florescent tubes, waste oil and tyres.

At our RBS’ s it is possible to recycle up to 5 types of material. We have an attendant who is responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of our RBS’s. Having this attendant has greatly improved the appearance of our centres and substantially reduced the number of problems reported. We plan to continue the expansion of RBS’s and are constantly looking for suitable areas. Our recycling contractors regularly service both the CAS’s and RBS’s

Council have two ongoing kerbside recycling schemes in place. We have 10,300 brown bins for compostable waste and more than 35,000 blue bins for mixed dry recyclable waste. The kitchen and garden waste collected by the brown bin scheme is made into compost by Natural World Product, Keady. The blue bin is for the collection of mixed dry recyclables, paper, card, plastic, aluminium and steel. The material collected is co-mingled and taken to a material recycling processing facility in Newry, Regen Waste. The blue bin scheme currently collects an average of 609 tonnes of dry recyclable material per month.

Education in schools is also valuable part of the Council’s recycling strategy. Patrick McShane, Environmental Co-ordinator will visit interested schools to give talks on the environment, litter, waste minimization and recycling.

Please click on the following link to view the Newry & Mourne District Council Recycling Report 2008-09 The Recycling Annual Report

If you would like any more information on composting, recycling or the environment you can contact

Tara Cunningham, Assistant Waste Management and Recycling Officer

Newry and Mourne District Council- (028) 30313233.

recycling@newryandmourne.gov.uk