'Unusual Suspects' in firing line during Recycling Week

As part of Recycling Week - Fermanagh and Omagh District Council are asking: can you identify the 'Unusual Suspects'?

Recyclable waste from the kitchen is often quickly identified and recycled: cereal boxes, milk cartons and waste plastics.

But waste aerosol cans, cleaning product bottles (such as bleach and soap dispensers) and used toileteries (shampoo and conditioners) - all easily recyclable - are often overlooked and wrongly sent to landfill.

So, as part of Recycling Week 2016 Fermanagh and Omagh District Council are asking all of us to think twice before binning these 'Unusual Suspects'.

John McCullagh, Head of Waste and Recycling with the Council, says the council area has come on leaps and bounds since the creation of super-councils - with new area currently well-on-track to meet legislative requirements when it comes to the amount of waste it recycles.

"There has been a significant increase [in recycling] even in the first year [since the creation of the new council area]. Up 4% to 45.5%, at present. Our ultimate target is to get to 50% [of all waste recycled] by 2020, which is the legislative requirement," he said. 

"And although we've done really well and everyone has contributed significantly, there's still a lot of work to do and, I suppose, the late 4.5% is going to be most difficult part [of reaching our target of recycling 50% of all waste in the district]," he added.

That's why identifying the 'Unusual Suspects' is so important to Council in increasing the amount of waste recycled.

Most residents are already aware of the sort of items need to be put into recycling but John reckons "just that little bit more effort" in thinking and attitudes could make all the difference when it comes to sending all of the correct items to the correct places.

"We do notice that the likes of the aerosol cans and toothpaste boxes, tissue boxes - items which may more than likely accumulate in bathroom areas - is that people sometimes from handiness dispose of these items in the waste bin as opposed to the recycling bin. Shampoos, shower gels, moisturising bottles - all of these plastics can all be recycled," he said.

"All of these items are stuff that people could look at just a little bit more - statistics have shown us that if everyone in the UK recycled one cardboard toothpaste box, it would save enough energy to run a fridge in over two thousand homes a year," John added.

 "As I said about our recycling rate, to get that last 4.5%, it's going to require just that little bit more from everybody just to push that figure up to the 50% rate that we need," he said.

To find out more about the 'Unusual Suspects' head to the Recycle Now Facebook page for more information.

LISTEN: John McCullagh, Head of Waste and Recycling with Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, explains the importance of recycling more of the 'Unusual Suspects' as part of Recycling Week 2016.