Popular blue bin rollout faces challenge as Bryson Recycling claims £3m savings possible

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is facing renewed calls to reconsider its decision to introduce blue recycling bins across Ballymena and Carrickfergus, with Bryson Recycling claiming an alternative collection system could deliver potential annual savings of £3 million.

The charity has urged the council to follow the example of neighbouring Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, where a kerbside-sort recycling system has been expanded alongside reductions in household residual waste capacity.

Katy Fulton, director of Bryson Recycling, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that adopting a similar approach could also unlock substantial government funding.

“If the council were to adopt a similar collection model to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, namely kerbside-sort recycling combined with reduced residual waste capacity, we estimate it could receive in excess of £3m in DAERA funding and make annual savings of potentially £3m.

“In Antrim and Newtownabbey, the system is delivering. It should be a signal to Mid and East Antrim.”

The figures are Bryson Recycling's estimates rather than confirmed funding allocations or independently verified savings.

Blue bin rollout planned for 2027

The intervention comes ahead of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council's planned introduction of 240-litre blue wheelie bins for households in Ballymena, Carrickfergus and surrounding areas next year.

The decision represents a significant reversal of the council's previous plans to introduce a uniform triple-stack recycling box system across the borough.

Under the revised arrangements, households in Ballymena and Carrickfergus will receive blue bins to replace their existing recycling boxes, while residents in the Larne area will retain their current blue bins.

Blue bin collections will take place fortnightly.

The move has created a striking contrast between neighbouring councils, with Mid and East Antrim moving towards mixed recycling collections while Antrim and Newtownabbey has been expanding a system requiring households to separate recyclable materials.

Neighbouring council reports improvements

Last autumn, Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council introduced triple-stack recycling boxes to approximately 23,000 households across Antrim, Randalstown, Crumlin, Templepatrick and Toomebridge.

The change replaced the blue bin recycling system in those areas and was accompanied by a reduction in standard black bin capacity from 240 litres to 180 litres. Brown bins were retained for food and garden waste.

The expansion followed the council securing £2.6 million in match funding from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).

The triple-stack system had already been operating in Newtownabbey since 2016, when the council became the first in Northern Ireland to introduce weekly kerbside-sort recycling collections for approximately 37,000 households.

The system allows residents to separate glass, plastics and cans, and paper and cardboard into individual stackable containers.

According to Bryson Recycling, the expansion into the former Antrim council area has produced measurable improvements.

The charity reported a 27% increase in recycling collected, with more than 300 additional tonnes gathered during the first six months to June.

It also estimated an 18% reduction in residual waste placed in black bins, with anticipated annual savings of £1.2 million.

Bryson said the collection of higher-quality recyclable materials means more than 70% can now be recycled within Northern Ireland, supporting local businesses and employment.

Contamination concerns over mixed recycling

A central concern raised by Bryson Recycling is the difference in contamination levels between mixed recycling bins and separately collected materials.

Ms Fulton reported contamination rates of approximately 15% in blue bins, compared with just 0.1% in wheelie boxes.

She said around 70% of materials collected by the charity remain in Northern Ireland for recycling.

Antrim and Newtownabbey councillors were recently informed that improvements in the quality of recovered paper meant waste paper from the borough was no longer being shipped to Pakistan and was instead being processed in Lurgan.

“The direction of travel in Northern Ireland should be separation of waste,” Ms Fulton said.

She stressed that keeping glass separate was particularly important, allowing it to be recycled within Northern Ireland rather than exported to Europe.

At Bryson Recycling's Mallusk processing facility, the consequences of contamination are evident in the range of unsuitable items arriving among household recycling.

Soiled nappies are among the most common contaminants found in blue bins. Other items recently identified at the plant included part of a child's car seat, wood, bubble wrap, a pillow and plastic bags.

“Battery fires are a massive risk to the site,” Ms Fulton warned.

She explained that incoming lorry loads are weighed before being tipped, allowing the company to monitor the quantities of material arriving for processing.

Mixed recycling is then placed on conveyor belts, where workers manually remove unsuitable items.

“People forget that there are human beings at the other end of a blue bin. Somebody has to separate that out,” she said.

Campaign highlights local economic benefits

Bryson Recycling's Keep Recycling Local campaign is seeking to highlight the environmental and economic advantages of collecting recyclable materials separately.

The charity argues that cleaner recycling streams increase the amount of material that can be processed locally, reducing reliance on overseas markets and strengthening Northern Ireland's circular economy.

“By collecting materials separately at the kerbside, the council has improved the quality of recyclables with over 70% of these materials now being recycled within Northern Ireland, supporting local businesses, creating employment and strengthening the regional circular economy,” Bryson stated.

The campaign recently received correspondence from Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Minister Andrew Muir, who highlighted the direction of the forthcoming Northern Ireland Resources and Waste Strategy.

In his letter, the Minister indicated that waste prevention and improvements in both the quantity and quality of recycling would be central to the strategy.

“The strategy strongly supports greater separation of recyclable materials and is aligned with the wider direction of travel across the UK,” he stated.

Council previously defended blue bin decision

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has previously defended its decision to adopt a co-mingled recycling system, arguing that research identified single-bin collections among the highest-performing recycling authorities.

The issue was raised in a question submitted by a member of the public, who asked: “Who is right – Antrim council getting rid of blue bins or Ballymena introducing blue bins?”

Responding at the time, interim chief executive Valerie Watts said councillors had considered research into recycling performance across Northern Ireland and England before deciding to change the collection model.

“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 England.

“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.”

The contrasting positions raise questions about how councils assess recycling performance, including the balance between the overall quantity of material collected, contamination levels, processing costs and the proportion ultimately recycled.

Welsh recycling model offers alternative approach

The debate has also drawn attention to Wales, where the collection of recyclable materials separately at the kerbside forms a central part of national waste policy.

At an Antrim and Newtownabbey council meeting in December, councillors were told the borough's approach aligned with the Welsh model, with an official highlighting Wales's position among the world's leading recycling nations.

The Welsh Government's Collections Blueprint 2025 recommends a kerbside-sort system under which households present recyclable materials separately.

These include paper and cardboard; plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays; metal tins, cans, aerosols and foil; cartons and other paper-based composite packaging; and glass bottles and jars.

The blueprint recommends weekly collections of dry recyclables alongside weekly food waste collections, supported by kitchen caddies, lockable outdoor containers and free food waste liners.

It also advocates reduced capacity for non-recyclable household waste as recycling performance improves.

According to the guidance, residual waste collections every three to four weeks should be sufficient under the standard service model, with capacity equivalent to 60 litres or less per household each week.

These are recommendations within the Welsh collection blueprint rather than requirements currently imposed on Northern Ireland councils.

Questions remain over costs and recycling performance

The disagreement leaves Mid and East Antrim facing competing arguments over how best to improve recycling performance while managing collection costs and meeting environmental targets.

Bryson Recycling maintains that separating materials at the kerbside could reduce contamination, retain more recyclable waste within Northern Ireland and deliver substantial financial benefits.

The council, however, has previously argued that co-mingled collections offer the strongest route towards achieving government recycling targets.

With new blue bins due to be distributed across Ballymena and Carrickfergus in 2027, the central question is whether the council's chosen system will deliver the best long-term environmental and financial outcomes for ratepayers.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has been asked to comment on Bryson Recycling's latest claims.