Keep Recycling Local campaign launched to benefit NIs local circular economy & environment

We pride ourselves on putting sustainability at the heart of what we do at Encirc. We employ over 400 people in County Fermanagh, all working hard each day to innovate on our journey towards Net Zero. However, we’re put at a disadvantage by having to import recyclable materials from other countries which is damaging for the planet. 

We have to import because glass collected from households locally is contaminated during collections by being mixed with other materials in “co-mingled” bins, which means councils in turn are having to spend millions shipping these materials as far as India and Thailand. These are materials we could use in our processes, thus lowering the carbon impact of our product, as well as seeing a major reduction in carbon emissions from keeping recycling local. We know there is a better way.

Fiacre O’Donnell, Head of Sustainability, Encirc

This is a major problem for Northern Ireland that can all be sorted out pretty easily, by collecting recycling separately rather than mixed together. This will save ratepayers and local businesses millions every year. As the people tasked with recycling these materials, we see on a daily basis that mixing materials during collections, such glass, paper, cardboard, and plastics, simply doesn’t work. It seriously lowers the quality of the materials, and this wouldn’t be the case if we adopted a 3-stream approach of collecting glass; paper and cardboard and other materials such as plastics, cans, and cartons separately.

Barry Phillips, Director, Enva

Adopting the 3-stream approach would ensure that 80% of materials collected in Northern Ireland could be recycled locally, compared to the current figure of around 10%. All the glass collected mixed in wheelie bins is exported due to quality issues, and it appears that over 40% is wasted in the sorting process. That could be reduced to 1% if we collected it separately, with everything staying in Northern Ireland for recycling. Only 15% of plastics collected mixed with glass and other materials is recycled here. 

Adopting a 3-stream approach would increase the amount to around 90%. This will save cash-strapped councils millions each year, provide better value for money for rate payers, save local businesses millions and enable them to be more competitive. Of course, it will also significantly reduce Northern Ireland’s carbon footprint and protect the environment as we won’t be exporting poorly sorted materials to countries that don’t have the infrastructure to deal with the waste they receive. We are ambitious about recycling and want to support Northern Ireland to achieve the highest recycling rates in the UK.

Eric Randall, Director, Bryson Recycling