Businessman calls for more blue bins

Businessman calls for more blue bins

17 February 2016

NEWRY, Mourne and Down Council is to be asked to consider providing blue recycling bins for businesses across the district.

The suggestion will be tabled at the next meeting of the local authority’s Regulatory and Technical Services Committee by Slieve Croob councillor and Ballynahinch businessman Mark Murnin.

Only householders and schools are provided with blue bins but councillor Murnin believes the service should be extended to the business community whom he believes would be willing to pay for it.

He revealed 80 per cent of the waste his public house generates is fully recyclable and he is currently paying a private contractor to remove it from his premises.

Councillor Murnin argued because businesses were not provided with blue bins, recyclable material generated by businesses across the district over recent years may well have been put into commercial bins supplied by the local authority and the waste dumped at the Drumanakelly landfill site near Seaforde.

“It emerged last week that the landfill site is to close with thousands of tonnes of black bin rubbish collected across the district to be shipped out of Northern Ireland for incineration. Maybe if blue bins had been widely available to the business community there would have been less waste dumped at Drumanakelly prolonging the landfill’s lifespan,” he suggested.

“Schools currently pay to have their blue bins collected and I am aware of a number of business people who would like to avail of this service. I have yet to be given a definitive answer why businesses can’t have a blue bin, but it is an issue I intend to pursue.”

Councillor Murnin said while he sends all his waste glass to be recycled, he wonders how many tonnes were sent to Drumanakelly over the years.

“Providing blue bins to businesses in the past may well have produced a saving for ratepayers who are now faced with a £360,000 bill to transport waste out of the district for incineration because our landfill site will close in a matter of weeks because it is almost full,” he continued.

“Businesses are as keen as anyone else to reduce their carbon footprint and if they can recycle a lot of the waste they produce this would go some way towards achieving this.”

Councillor Murnin said with an onus on local authorities to meet increasing waste recycling targets, providing the business community with blue bins could be one way of helping achieve this.

He added: “I believe there is an appetite across the business community to be included in the blue bin waste scheme. There is a cost involved but it could be cheaper than what many businesses are currently paying to have their waste removed by private contractors. I believe it is an issue worth examining.”