Re-Gen Waste Ltd applauded Newry, Mourne & Down District Council for its continued recycling success, as the latest quarterly data from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (DAERA) verified it produced the top waste energy recovery and landfill rates of all the Councils in Northern Ireland.

Statistics released by DAERA, show that Newry, Mourne & Down District Council’s LAC municipal waste energy recovery rate, achieved for the April to June 2018 period, was 49.5% per cent, 32.4% more than the total Northern Ireland average of 17.1 per cent.

The Council also recorded the lowest landfill rate at 5.1%, less than one fifth of the Northern Ireland rate of 27.9% and a 2.9% improvement on 8% in the last quarter.

Joseph Doherty, Managing Director of Re-Gen Waste Ltd said: “Landfill Tax for households continues to be the main driver for local authorities to reduce landfill, so we are very pleased to have helped Newry, Mourne & Down District Council achieve such progressive waste energy recovery and landfill rates.

“As one of Europe’s most advanced materials recovery facility (MRF) installations, we are determined that whatever the waste problem may be, we will help councils across the UK and Ireland, find a way to solve it.”

Re-Gen has been working closely with Newry, Mourne & Down District Council for the last 14 years to encourage local residents to recycle more, by providing a commingled (plastic, glass, paper, card, tins and cardboard) blue bin service. This has resulted in nearly half of their waste being reused and recycled, rather than ending up in landfill.

Current recycling research advises that convenience is key to getting good recycling figures and Mr Doherty corroborates that the recycling service offered to householders has to be both convenient and efficient.

“We have found that household friendly schemes such as commingling recyclables in blue bins, are more preferable to residents than pre-sort schemes and that working with advanced MRF’s like Re-Gen, is actively improving recycling rates,” he said.

“We make it easier to recycle household materials by offering local authorities a co-mingled blue bin sorting service, so ultimately less waste ends up in landfills or our waterways.”

Re-Gen has invested heavily in a state of the art glass screening plant at their MRF in Newry so they can recover 95 per cent of the glass for recycling, rather than send to landfill.

The company is uniquely positioned to accept and sort materials commingled with glass for customers and councils across Northern Ireland and the UK.

To find out more about Re-Gen Waste go to https://www.regenwaste.com/about