Down District Council are cracking down on blue bin contamination.

It is rare, but not unheard of that people hide bags of black bin rubbish in their bins, covering the top with newspapers.

The Council goes to tender to find a company to take the blue bin material, sort it, and pass it on for processing; seeking a company to take the greatest amount of materials for recycling, at the least cost.

Bryson House, the company who currently take our recycling material for the district, will accept paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and cans in the blue bins.

All other material such as plastic bags, yogurt pots and plastic food trays etc, are classed as 'contamination'.

Due to the expense of sorting the materials, which for the most part is done by hand, Bryson House fine the councils approximately £700 for every lorryload of blue bin material that is regarded as 'contaminated', ie. which contains items that don't belong in the blue bins. They still sort the material, but impose a fine, as sorting is slower.

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The reasons for the high costs involved are straightforward. Every part of the recycling process is expensive. Transport and sorting costs are high, but processing further down the line is also very costly.

Canice O'Rourke, Director of Environmental services, explained why we bother recycling when it is so expensive: "Sending waste to landfill is expensive and environmentally unfriendly. The resultant methane gas that escapes into the atmosphere is a significant contributor to Climate Change and we must do all we can to reduce this."

Currently the recycling rate in Down District Council is about 37%. The district is obliged to reach 40% by 2010, so it is imperative we continue to improve our recycling to avoid ratepayers being asked to pay for EU fines.

Down District Council has 9 crews filling and emptying their lorry several times a day, collecting blue bins from 29,000 households. Allowing even a couple of these lorries to be fined for 'contamination' could cost rate payers thousands of pounds in a week.

Contact Environmental Services for further info on using your blue bin on: 028 4461 0819.

(GK/JM)