Brown Bin Collection Banbridge District Council Barry Patience Head of Technical Services

Background  Population cc 19,000 (50% urban, 50% rural)  Bin collection scheme:  Alternate week; green (with insert) and brown, then black.  Green bin (mixed dry recyclable) with insert (glass)  Brown bin (food and garden organic waste)  Black bin (landfill waste)

Focus on brown bin for organics  Brown bins rolled out 100% by 2005  Initially for peelings and garden waste only  2008 public allowed to put all food waste including meat and bones into bin.  WRAP survey Spring 2009

WRAP findings  Samples taken from Acorn groups 1,2,3,4,5.  Capture rate was 44% in Banbridge  Separate collection rates averaged 60% with Belfast at 45%, in similar Acorn groups.  Weight of food in brown bin was 1.4kg hh wk. average for the other 6 was 1.9kg hh wk.  Scope for improvements and better communication

Campaigns  ‘Must’ and Must not’ stickers  Hibernation publicity  ‘How do you do yours?’  Ongoing campaigns

Since 2009  3 seasons in Banbridge!!  Cutting (April – Sep), some cutting, no cutting (Dec-Feb)  Summer tonnages since 2009 > 6%  Winter tonnages since 2009 > 27%  Winter tonnages are 50% lower than in the Summer.  Bins collected drop from 75% of possible bins in the summer to 50% in the winter. (Barry’s statistics)

Food or not food; that is the question!  4.1kg hh wk is collected in the winter  Winter is a time when the green waste has all but stopped; drop by 65% in CRC.  Note: over the last few years food being wasted has dropped by around 15%

Conclusion The brown bin collecting food and garden organic waste works.  The collected waste has a significant amount of food captured (44%>>>)  The public satisfaction with the scheme is 88%>  Good EU standard product.