Suspected fourth bin proposal labelled ‘crazy’ by councillor

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has been preparing a report on waste management with a six month delay on publishing its new proposals.

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) awaiting the new central government proposals, has put off the roll out of its own controversial bigger mixed recycling bins since it approved its policy in January 2023.

In chambers, Councillor Caleb McCready said: “I understand that there is a proposal for an additional glass bin or fourth bin. I think that is crazy.

“If there is an additional bin, then there would be additional cost of collecting it, as well as the added physical strain on staff and equipment."

LCCC currently operates three bins for collection, black for residual waste, green for recycling and a brown bin for food waste.

The DAERA public consultation, ‘Rethinking Our Resources’, took place from March 2024, with the department expected to publish its new green proposals for all of Northern Ireland’s 11 councils by last Christmas.

However, six months later, there has been nothing from Minister Andrew Muir.

A council officer responded: ”Without knowing the DAERA outcome from the consultation, it is hard to put any sort of estimates on cost to the council.

“However, in the passing of time, since 2023, we could actually be looking at less cost, but we don’t know.

“We do know of two councils who have already progressed their bin policy, but that is their scope to do so.

“There are a number of variables and we will have to square that circle when it comes to it.

“The DAERA report was due at Christmas, but that proved to be a false dawn.

“We have not yet been formally advised of a timeframe for the proposals to be published.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands that LCCC was due to generate a bigger mixed recycling bin as its new strategy.

It would have seen the increase of co-mingled recycling bin size and a decrease in the capacity of household waste bins. Concerns over the plans were raised by disability and elderly charities.

The local authority was forced to launch its own public consultation in the district, with its analysis showing the majority of residents in favour of the bigger recycling bin policy.

At the time LCCC chief executive David Burns said any need to adapt to a greater level of segregation of dry recycling on NI government rules would “come at a significant cost” to the council.

A spokesperson for DAERA said: “There was a significant interest in the recent Rethinking Our Resources consultation on recycling, with almost 300 responses and over 1000 pages of accompanying evidence received.

“Analysis of these consultation responses has helped inform a draft departmental response, which is in its final stages of development.

“It is the Minister’s intention to bring this to Executive colleagues shortly to seek their support in moving forward together to not only meet our legal targets for recycling, but to also help drive green growth and develop our circular economy in Northern Ireland.”