The food waste trial has helped to boost recycling rates in the city to 27%, its highest ever. Councillor Cathal Mullaghan, chairman of the council`s Health and Environmental Services Committee, said: “We`re delighted with the success of the food waste collection trial and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank those taking part for really getting behind this new service.”
Our recycling rates have been going up so we are and we are trying to push them up even further
Belfast city council
He added: “Not only have we seen an increase in the amount of household waste being recycled in the black box kerbside recycling areas, our recycling rate for the first financial quarter in 2008 is 27 per cent, our highest rate ever.”
The collections revealed that Belfast residents were throwing away up to four kilograms of food each week. Since July this year the council has provided kitchen caddies for homes in the areas of Lower Ormeau, Markets, Ballynafeigh, Sydenham, Donegall Road, and Falls, and collected the waste weekly. It said that more than 40 tonnes of food waste had been collected since the trial began.
Cllr Mullaghan is keen for residents to support the trial further. He said: “We cannot rest on our laurels. The need to recycle at home has never been greater and I would encourage people who are still not convinced to talk to our recycling advisers.”
He added that the food waste collection was highlighting just how much food residents waste, explaining that seeing the 4kg they throw away each week might give people “food for thought” when they fill up their shopping trolley at the supermarket.
Roll out
The council is hoping to roll out the food waste trial across the city once the trial ends in September, to allow all residents to recycle all food leftovers including meat and fish, dairy products, fruit and veg, bread, rice and beans, and tea and coffee grounds.
In addition to the food waste collection service, the council is also offering home composters to residents for £5, with a free kitchen caddy, as well as encouraging residents to reduce, re-use and recycle.
Waste monitoring is another key priority and the council is recording the amount of waste and recycling its residents generate with radio frequency identification devices, or bin chips.
The council is doing this to find out of residents need help sorting their materials, to trace stolen bins and to find out if they are on track to meet Government waste targets.
WEEE
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is another area the council is interested in. It now accepts WEEE at its civic amenity sites and commissioned a local artist to create a sculpture to highlight just how much WEEE is wasted.
The WEEE World Alltogether sculpture is made from waste WEEE collected over just three days from civic amenity sites in the area and shows how much WEEE is discarded in the area,
Commenting on Belfast's future plans, a council spokeswoman said: “Our recycling rates have been going up so we are and we are trying to push them up even further. We think we are going in the right direction. Recycling is one of our top priorities.”
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