Tonnes of glass could end up in landfill after Belfast City Council suspended its glass recycling service over “operational issues”.
The move will impact all households with a purple or glass recycling box but wheelie bins and Bryson recycling collections will be lifted as normal.
BCC is advising those affected to take their glass to recycling centres themselves but say they know that will be not be possible for everyone.
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A council spokesperson said: “Due to pressures around staff resourcing, we’ve had to take the decision to temporarily suspend our glass box recycling collection service.
“Absences due to Covid among front line staff also continues to have an impact on our overall service delivery, resulting in knock-on resourcing challenges across services.
“We appreciate this is a huge inconvenience and we apologise for the disruption. We will review our operations in four weeks, and will keep residents informed via our website and social media channels.
“In the meantime, residents can take glass recyclables to their nearest bottle bank or if they have access to transport can dispose of glass at their nearest recycling centre – however we appreciate this will not be possible for everyone.”
Belfast collected more waste than any other council from January-March this year at 37,578 tonnes.
But the council area is also the worst performing when it comes household recycling compared to other councils.
According to the latest stats from the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, a total of 36,769 tonnes of waste were collected from homes across Belfast in the last quarter of 2021.
Just 15,185 tonnes (41%) of that was household recycling waste - not including composting - compared to 54% of the waste collected in best performing council Mid Ulster.
The council says it collects on average 14 tonnes of glass a week and while they recognise glass may end up in general waste they ‘don’t consider that contamination’.
An industry report we’ve seen shows much more glass is recycled when recyclable materials are separated in the home instead of mingled in one bin.
The council is urging residents to dispose of their glass recycling at bottlebanks while the collection services are not operational.
SDLP councillor, Seamas De Faoite, said: “I’ve called for a meeting of the Cleansing Taskforce on this news about glass recycling collections. Belfast City Council should be doing everything possible to promote a circular economy and support residents to recycle.
“Belfast has already seen worrying recycling trends as a result of the pandemic and limitations placed on waste collection during lockdowns.
“Addressing the cleansing and waste challenges in the city centre shouldn’t come at the expense of critical recycling services in our neighbourhoods.
“Council’s ability to provide this glass recycling service should be restored as soon as possible, and I will continue to campaign for its expansion across Lisnasharragh and the whole of the city, to the many households who lost their glass collections in 2014.”
A list of bottle banks and recycling centres is available by clicking here and here.
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