Belfast black bins could be collected just once a month

Belfast's black bins could become smaller or be collected less often in the future.

Belfast City Council is asking for feedback on its black bin collections as part of a consultation on the future of waste and recycling.

The council said it needs to change its collection systems if it is to hit a recycling target of 50% by 2020.

The council said that about "half of the waste in black bins could be recycled".

It wants to get that recyclable waste out of black bins and to improve the quality of materials it collects.

Black bins are for "general waste" that cannot be recycled, like plastic bags, wallpaper and cling film, food waste is not permitted.

Contaminated

Belfast City Council operates four different recycling systems and residents are being asked for feedback on proposals to move to one city-wide recycling collection.

Councillor Kate Nicholl, chair of the council's People and Communities Committee, said:

"We are already spending over £26m each year managing our waste - and by collecting our recyclables more efficiently we could have better quality recycling materials; we could create more jobs, and money spent on managing our waste could be better spent on investment in the city and other council services.

"We have done well to raise our recycling rate over the past 10 years to around 44%, however, we have now reached a plateau.

"Often the blue bin waste we collect contains contaminated items meaning it cannot be recycled locally and needs to be shipped on for sorting and treatment."

The consultation is asking residents for their views on a number of options:

• Change to a smaller black bin for general household waste, collected fortnightly

• No change to size of black bin but a three weekly collection cycle

• No change to size of black bin but a four weekly collection cycle

Residents can respond to the consultation online before the deadline of 7 October.