A cost of £700 is incurred every time a contaminated blue bin is lifted by Derry’s council, it has been revealed.
The figure emerged during a meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Environment and Regeneration Committee on Wednesday, during a discussion on a ‘Bin Ovation’ app which was launched by council over two year ago.
The free app provides users with information on the refuse services provided by the council, and includes details of what can go into each of the bins, a calendar of collections and useful contact numbers.
It emerged at the meeting that since the app launched on February 22, 2016, the total number of users to date 1,202 with 77 new users this month.
The meeting was told that while there is a ‘clear indication’ that the app is being used and the number of users continue to rise every month, the ‘potential exists for many more people to avail of the app especially as there is not yet a council app in place’.
A council officer added that a team had been set up within to help ‘market’ the app, and there are now plans to advertise the app at council facilities such as recycling centres, leisure and community centres.
Commenting, Sinn Fein’s Sandra Duffy said she was a ‘bit disappointed’ at the number of people who had downloaded the app, and asked if more could be done to make people aware of it, such as placing stickers on bins.
Later in the meeting, it emerged that council had been recently contacted by RecyCo, the council’s recycling processor with regard to blue bin waste being heavily contaminated with black bags, food waste, plastic bags and nappies.
Conor Canning, Head of Environment with the council, added that on a number of occasions, the contamination has been so severe that RecyCo were unable to process the material for recycling with the wastes having to be transferred to the RiverRidge facility for treatment alongside black bin waste.
He added that council officers held meetings with refuse collection crews to ‘reinforce the importance of checking bins before they are emptied’.
With regards to the actions taken by council when a blue bin is found to contaminated, it is tagged and the address of house is taken.
The tag advises the householder to remove the contaminated item from the bin and present on the next collection date.
If a bin is found to be contaminated on a second occasion, the bin is tagged again and this is followed up with an advisory letter and information on recycling.
On a third occasion, the council’s Recycling and Waste Minimisation officer ‘will make contact with the resident to arrange a home visit and provide assistance’.
There was no mention in the report of any possible enforcement action such as Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) being issued to those found to have repeatedly contaminated their bins.
Mr Canning added that council are currently paying £54 per tonne for the treatment and processing of blue bin material.
In the event of a contaminated load, be it only a small amount, it is rejected and this results in a payment of £112 per tonne to be treated as residual waste which is essentially twice the price,” he continued.
He then told the meeting that a cost of £700 is incurred per vehicle each time a load is rejected, adding that five lorries had recently been found to have contaminated loads, resulting in a cost of £3,500 to the council.
“It is quite expensive and costly,” Mr Canning added.
He added that council is required to reach a 50 per cent recycling rate by 2020, and warned that if the target is not met, it will ‘not only lead to financial penalties but also reputational damage for council in terms of recycling performance’.
Commenting, the DUP’s Graham Warke described the figure as ‘crazy money’, while the meeting’s chair, the SDLP’s Angela Dobbins, voiced her concerns that one blue bin could lead to the entire lorry being contaminated.
She added that it was also unacceptable that staff at recycling centres were also having to deal with items such as soiled nappies.
Councillors agreed to approve continuing providing the Bin-Ovation app for a further 12 months on the basis that council currently do not have a dedicated app in place to assist householders with a user-friendly information system on waste and recycling.
Pictured above - some of the waste which was recently discovered in a contaminated blue bin.
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