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A recent recycling poll revealed that over three quarters of householders in the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area are happy with how the council had asked them to recycle, up from 65% from the same poll carried out in 2019.
The poll also showed that 94% of respondents believe that recycling was extremely or somewhat important and nearly all (98%) felt there were no negative issues with their recycling service.
However, despite these positive results, 21% of householders said they recycle only when it is convenient for them and 11% said they would place glass in their black bin if their blue or green bin was full.
Joseph Doherty, Managing Director of Re-Gen Waste, said: “These survey results indicate that prioritising simplicity and convenience is the best approach to ensuring a high level of household recycling.
“But we see that although most householders feel recycling is important, 74% say they recycle everything they can which is nearly 8% below the national average. It seems that a significant number of householders still revert to bad habits if their recycling service becomes temporarily inconvenient.
“We know people care about the environment but having the desire to recycle doesn't always translate into reality. I believe that local authorities must encourage the maximum number of people to recycle the maximum volume of materials by making the process as simple and convenient as possible.
“Effective communication around the benefits of recycling, determining what materials can be recycled and showing householders that material collected is genuinely recycled, could also boost householder recycling rates and have a big impact on the Councils recycling performance,” he said.
Re-Gen supports Newry, Mourne and Down District Council in improving recycling across the district by encouraging householders to ‘Recycle Right’; dry materials including glass, bottles and jars should be placed in the blue bin, all food waste goes in the brown bin, and the black bin is for materials that cannot be recycled.
The survey was carried out by Lucid Talk across all 11 council areas in March 2022.
- 94% of respondents believe that recycling was extremely or somewhat important
- 77% of householders are happy with how the council has asked them to recycle, up 12% since 2019
- 74% of local householders say that they recycle everything they possibly can, but
- One fifth (21%) say they only recycle when it’s convenient
- Of those who recycle, 11% say they would put glass in their black bin if their green or blue bin was full
