DAERA pumps £23 million into making recycling easier in Northern Ireland

The Department of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has announced that a fresh £23 million is being invested into making recycling easier and improve the quality of material being recycled.

Funding from the Household Waste Recycling Collaborative Change Programme will allow local councils to improve facilities including enhancing household waste recycling centres and kerbside collections.

David Small, Chief Executive of DAERA, said: “This announcement brings the amount of money we have invested into council recycling service and infrastructure since 2010 to over £40 million.”

“By working with councils and the public we are seeing excellent results, with latest UK waste statistics showing the for the first time ever, Northern Ireland’s household recycling has overtaken England’s and is higher than the UK average, with the rate increasing to over 48 per cent.”

“Both the public and our local councils have helped us make great progress in the amount we recycle and in doing so supported both our environment and local economy. We hope this latest investment will drive up recycling rates, improve the quality of the material recycled, and reduce contamination to raise the value of recyclables and ensure a robust market access.”

“There is still much to do in terms of reducing plastics and food waste and, ideally, preventing waste from occurring in the first place. Our environment is a precious and finite natural resource and we must do all we can by reusing or recycling materials to reduce the pressure on it.”

“I am convinced that more can be done and that there is an appetite from the public to do more. This funding will provide new or improved services to make recycling more accessible and allow more materials to be recycled by the public.”