Ballymoney Rethinks Waste

The ongoing government campaign encouraging people across Northern Ireland to ‘rethink’ waste has been whole heartedly embraced by Ballymoney Borough Council.

At a time when resources are limited, Council has secured funding through the DOE and WRAP to improve structures for recycling and also to encourage the whole community to become involved in looking what ways waste can be managed locally.

Facing stiff competition from Councils across Northern Ireland, Ballymoney successfully obtained funding for four schemes; the separation and processing of waste timber, the installation of a static compactor to assist in the effective processing of recyclable material, new and effective signage and branding for recycling facilities across the Borough and the wider promotion of messages such as reducing or reusing waste.

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In addition to these successes, Ballymoney Borough Council is also working in partnership with Cloughmills Community Action Team to deliver a food waste project under the umbrella of the ‘Incredible Edible Cloughmills’ campaign. This imaginative project was the only such partnership approach to receive support through Rethink Waste and is proof that relatively small schemes devised locally can have much wider benefits and impacts.

By reducing and reusing waste, we have an opportunity not only to prevent waste from becoming a problem but we can also reduce the burden on household budgets. There has never been a better time to look closely at how, where and why we shop as a crucial first stage in reducing the amount of waste we all generate.

It is well known that up to one third of what we spend on our weekly shopping trip is actually spent on packaging. When this fact is considered together with the realisation that in any year, an average household potentially throws away food worth up to £680, it soon becomes obvious why reducing and reusing are just as vital as recycling.

Cllr Evelyne Robinson, Chair of Health and Environmental Services, Ballymoney Borough Council commented: “Ballymoney Borough Council has maximised the impact of these successful funding bids to ensure that there are now more options than ever to manage rather than simply dispose of waste. In the current climate, waste should now be viewed as a resource.

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“There are so many businesses and products availing of the cost benefits coming from using recycled products and materials. These often reduce energy and raw material expenditure, improving the bottom line. The newly branded Household Recycling Centres at Knock Road and Crosstagherty offer a tremendous range of opportunities for users to separate over 24 different waste streams.

“These larger sites complement Community and Supermarket Recycling Centres located across the Borough as well as brown bins for organic waste and the recently expanded blue bin recycling at home programme. Fortunately, Borough residents have consistently shown a genuine commitment to using blue bins and the various recycling facilities already in place. With the existing options now enhanced, there has never been a better time to ‘rethink waste’ in Ballymoney.”

If you would like more information on waste management in Ballymoney or if you belong to a group who could benefit from a talk on what’s happening locally, please contact Borough Services on 028 2766 0257.

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