Pilot scheme yet to deliver waste change

This was revealed at the recent meeting of the council’s Environmental Services Committee, when officers outlined that staff had been monitoring the amount of waste at its refuse centres, along with the contents of bins.

Councillor Glenn Barr raised the issue, along with a number of other concerns around the pilot scheme which sees black bins collected once every four weeks.

Mr Barr expressed concern that families of four require a bigger green bin but this is only available for families of five and over. He also asked that consideration be given to supplying a smaller bin for nappies.

However, Director of Environmental Services, David Lyndsay, said such a bin would not be practical and explained the reasoning behind the green bin regulations.

He said, “The first trial showed that if there was less than five in a family a 240 litre bin was generally adequate. Such families are being asked to try this in the initial stages of the trial and if they still require a larger green bin, despite maximising the use of the 240 litre one, it will be provided.”

Mr Lyndsay added: “Officers on the ground are working hard to make this pilot a success and a householder survey will be carried out at the end of the pilot.”

Councillors were pleased that a paper on local council recycling recently cited Banbridge as an exemplar that had “demonstrated transformational change by increasing their recycling capacity and educating householders on managing the waste they generate”.

Mr Lyndsay told members that concerns had only been raised by a “small minority of people” and claimed most were “content”.