Waste sites bunged for Christmas '˜clear-out'!

But workers at Mid & East Antrim Council’s household recycling centres were absolutely flabbergasted by the rush to recycle last week with a major demand coming on the Wednesday after Christmas.

And although this has meant flat out working for HRC employees the trend towards recycling is great news for the council in its campaign to meet recycling targets.

A spokesperson for the Council said: “This is very welcome indeed and is just a continuation of all our work to date.

“The only day that all five of the centres were closed was Christmas Day itself to date, with the likes of our newly refurbished Sullatober HRC and the Waveney Road HRC in Ballymena staying open every day except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, for added convenience.

“Even our award-winning Larne South HRC closed for only five out of the 14 days of the festive and New Year break overall,” he said, adding some timely advice.

“Pre-sort your recyclables before arrival at the HRC as that speeds up the process and helps us keep the traffic moving and be aware of what can and cannot be recycled,” he added.

Polystyrene must be taken to the local HRC, so remove it and then use the kerbie for the actual packaging if that’s easier; real Christmas trees can be recycled for composting at the local HRC, cards and envelopes (windows removed) can also go into the kerbie and while wrapping paper isn’t always recyclable – as only 100% paper can be processed – keep the laminated or plastic stuff and reuse it next year.

Wine bottles and other empties, such as food and juice cans can also go into the kerbie – or be taken to the HRC.

“It is no coincidence that Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s HRCs averaged a combined recycling rate of 73.9% which is among the highest in any of the 11 local councils,

and well above the 61% average for Northern Ireland.

“Keep up the good work into a cleaner, greener and less costly 2017,” he concluded.