Black bag sorting to increase recycling
28th June 2019
Fermanagh and Omagh District Council is urging residents to sort their bagged waste into recyclable, reusable and landfill items before visiting a recycling centre as unsorted bags of waste are no longer acceptable.
The ‘pre-sort’ initiative is part of an ongoing programme of measures being rolled out by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council to increase recycling rates and reduce waste sent to landfill. Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has a recycling target of 50% of waste by 2020. In 2017-18 45.4% of waste from households in Fermanagh and Omagh was recycled.
Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Councillor Siobhan Currie, said:
“We are currently experiencing high volumes of recyclable material including plastic bottles, tins, cardboard, paper and glass being disposed of in landfill skips, mainly concealed in mixed black bags. This valuable material is destined for landfill with associated negative environmental impacts. It also comes at a significant cost to ratepayers and diverts funds from the Council delivering other essential services in the community. Sorting the contents of bagged waste will help us to achieve recycling targets, protect the environment and save money.”
As well as providing recycling facilities across the district the Council also offers ‘reuse’ facilities at its Drummee, Enniskillen; Gortrush, Omagh; Carrickmore; Fintona; Irvinestown; Kesh and Lisnaskea recycling centres where residents can bring their unwanted household bulky items such as wardrobes, table and chairs which will be collected by registered charities, refurbished and reused in in the community.
Unwanted usable paint can also be brought to Gortrush, Omagh; Carrickmore; Drummee, Enniskillen; Fintona; Irvinestown; Kesh and Lisnaskea recycling centres where it is then made available free of charge to residents and community groups.
For further information on waste and recycling please download the free Bin-ovation app, visit the Council website www.fermanaghomagh.com or contact the Council’s Recycling Officer, Anthea Owens, by telephoning 0300 303 1777 (calls charged at local rate), text phone 028 8225 6216 or email anthea.owens@fermanaghomagh.com.