Council hails success of ‘manned recycling stations’ at events

The Northern Irish council trialled the scheme at the Sea Bangor Festival, which took place over 3-4 June.

More than four tonnes of waste was collected at the supervised recycling point put in place by the council, with 98.5% sent for recycling into new products, the council explained.

According to Ards and North Down, this marks a “massive increase” in the amount of recyclable waste being diverted from landfill compared to previous events.

Prior to the new recycling stations being introduced, the authority said on-site bins were usually contaminated, resulting in most of the waste ending up in landfill.

‘Sustainable tourism’

The mayor of Ards and North Down, councillor Jennifer Gilmour, said: “This new initiative is proving to be a great success, not only for our ratepayers but for the environment too. This will also encourage more people to think about what bins they are placing their waste into at home and ultimately encourage them to engage fully in the council’s kerbside collection services and household recycling centre services.

“It also helps place Ards and North Down firmly on the map in terms of its sustainable tourism offering. It will appeal to people from far and wide, people who are likely to be attracted to our events because of our strident efforts to promote recycling and the wider sustainability agenda. This is a great result for our Borough and I encourage everyone to discard their waste at the dedicated recycling stations at all future Council-run events.”

Bins

To encourage members of the public to use the recycling stations at events, the council is discouraging the use of the nearby public bins. Instead, they are being directed to dispose of their waste at the specific recycling stations where staff are on hand to provide advice on which bins to use.

Of the four tonnes collected at the event, more than 1.6 tonnes was dry recycling, 1.7 tonnes was organic waste, 420kg was glass while 60kg was landfill waste.

The recycling stations will be operating at all future council-run events.