Mid & East Antrim chief defends move to blue recycling bins amid diverging approaches across councils

The interim chief executive of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has defended the authority’s decision to move to blue mixed-recycling bins in Ballymena and Carrickfergus from 2026/27, despite neighbouring Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council phasing out the very same system.

Speaking during Monday night’s full council meeting at The Braid in Ballymena, Valerie Watts responded to a public question which asked:

“Who is right – Antrim council getting rid of blue bins or Ballymena introducing blue bins?”

Mrs Watts explained that the council’s decision was based on extensive research into the highest-performing recycling authorities across the UK.

“Before elected members resolved to move to a co-mingled recycling collection system, officers researched which councils had the highest recycling rates in Northern Ireland and also in England,” she said.

“Consistently, the highest performing councils collect their recycling using the single bin co-mingled system and based on the research undertaken, the council is confident that the only option for achieving the government’s recycling targets was to adopt the blue bin system.”

She added that it would not be appropriate to comment on whether Mid and East Antrim or Antrim and Newtownabbey had made the “right” decision, noting:

“Antrim and Newtownabbey Council will have had to make their decision based on affordability, acceptability and the expected outcome.”

Different Directions on Recycling

Mid and East Antrim previously sought funding from DAERA to extend its wheelie-box triple stack system into the Larne area, aiming for a borough-wide uniform collection scheme.

However, the council has since signalled a reversal of this strategy, opting to roll out 240-litre blue recycling bins to households in Ballymena and Carrickfergus instead.

Larne residents will continue using their existing blue bins, with all blue-bin recycling to be collected fortnightly.

A statement issued earlier this year said the council had been exploring ways to “make recycling simpler for householders” while improving overall recycling performance. The approved model will allow all dry recyclable materials to be placed into a single bin.

This comes as councils across Northern Ireland face ambitious statutory targets:

• 55% recycling by 2025,

• 60% by 2030, and

• 65% by 2035.

Antrim and Newtownabbey Moves to Wheelie Boxes

In contrast, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council is completing its transition away from the blue bin system by rolling out the triple stack wheelie box system to 23,000 households in Antrim, Randalstown, Crumlin, Templepatrick and Toomebridge.

As part of the shift, 240-litre black bins for non-recyclable waste are being replaced with smaller 180-litre versions, while brown bins will continue to be used for food and garden waste.

DAERA previously offered £2.25m match-funding in 2023 to support the expansion of the triple stack system.

An operations report due to be considered at Antrim Civic Centre confirmed that:

“Delivery of wheelie boxes and black bins, along with the uplift of blue bins and the legacy 240L black bins, was completed as scheduled by the week commencing 17 November. The distribution phase was undertaken over an 11-week period.”

Antrim and Newtownabbey became the first council in Northern Ireland to adopt the wheelie-box system when it introduced it to 37,000 households in Newtownabbey in 2016.

Recycling Performance Shifts

The most recent Northern Ireland Local Authority Collected Municipal Waste Management Statistics report for April to June shows notable shifts in household recycling rates across the region.

The report highlighted:

• Ards & North Down recorded the strongest growth, increasing its household recycling rate by 3.4 percentage points.

• Mid & East Antrim followed with a 2.2 percentage-point increase.

• Five councils saw a decline, including Antrim and Newtownabbey, which experienced the largest drop year-on-year for the period.