Bin collections across Larne, Carrickfergus and Ballymena set to be standardised with triple-stack bins to be ditched

The council says that an economic appraisal will then take place before the planned return to “co-mingled” recycling in Carrickfergus and Ballymena areas expected in 2026/27.

Households are asked to continue using the existing systems in the meantime.

Currently, a triple stack box system is used by households in these towns for recycling dry goods while blue wheelie bins are used by households in Larne.

The council says: “The aim of standardising the collection process and adopting an easier and simpler recycling model is to lead to greater participation from residents and improved recycling performance.

“Through the draft Circular Economy Strategy, councils across Northern Ireland were set ambitious recycling targets of 55% recycling by 2025, yet in 2023/24, Mid and East Antrim achieved a recycling rate of 50.67%. In addition to this, the strategy has set a 60% recycling target by 2040, 65% by 2035.”

Households in Carrickfergus and Ballymena areas will be provided with a 240 litre blue bin while Larne residents will be requested to use existing bins. Glass will be recycled with other dry materials. Bins will be emptied every fortnight.

All households in the borough will continue to have black bins for non-recyclable residual waste and a brown bin for garden and food waste. There are no planned changes to brown or black bin collections.

Independent Councillor Bobby Hadden commented online: “Residents of Carrickfergus, Greenisland will be getting a new blue bin which can be used for items that one would normally place in the recycling bins. This will be easier to use and should see the end of rubbish on the streets and bins ending up in gardens and elsewhere when the weather is inclement.”

DUP Councillor Gregg McKeen commented on social media: “Mid and East Antrim Borough Council have voted to harmonise waste collection across Larne, Carrickfergus and Ballymena.

“I am delighted that our campaign to keep the blue bin in Larne has succeeded.”

Former mayor and Ulster Unionist councillor Andy Wilson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Regarding the extension of the Larne blue bin system to the rest of Mid and East Antrim, again, unbelievably, the DUP are claiming this as a win for them.

“I was advocating this in 2014 when the new council was established and got no support whatsoever from the DUP,” he claimed.

“Why did it take 10 plus years to agree a common bin collection system is probably a question that ratepayers should be asking.”

A spokesperson for the Alliance Party said: “We believe council should have waited until the DAERA guidance was published before making a decision.”

The borough council has been seeking funding from DAERA (Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs) since 2020 to extend the triple stack wheelie box system to Larne, in a bid to operate a uniform waste collection across the borough.

Last October, DAERA Minister Andrew Muir announced £2.6m funding for Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council to provide triple stack bins for households in Antrim.

A spokesperson for DAERA said: “DAERA is aware of the recent decision by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council to implement a co-mingled collection for dry recyclables throughout the borough.

“A range of proposals designed to improve the quality and quantity of our recycling and to help Northern Ireland achieve its statutory requirements were included in a recent consultation ‘Rethinking our Resources: Measures for Climate Action and a Circular Economy in Northern Ireland’.

“Analysis of consultation responses has helped inform a draft Departmental response which officials are currently finalising. It is Minister Muir’s intention to bring this to Executive colleagues to seek their support in moving forward together to not only meet our legal targets for recycling but to also help drive green growth and develop our circular economy in Northern Ireland.

“Under current legislation aimed at not just increasing the quantity but also improving the quality of the material collected, co-mingling is no longer considered an acceptable form of separate collection.

“The Waste (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013 revoked Section 21 of the Waste Regulations (NI) 2011 which had stated that co-mingling was an acceptable form of separate collection.

“This means councils (and waste collectors, more generally) have a legal obligation to consider collection methods from a place of greatest separation of material streams except where this is not technically feasible would entail disproportionate economic costs or does not deliver the best environmental outcome. It is up to individual councils to ensure this is completed.”