Pilot scheme recycles 70,000 Plastic Bottles

Belfast City Council and environmental charity, Hubbub, recently announced that an estimated 70,000 plastic bottles and cans which otherwise would have been placed in general waste bins are now being recycled annually as a result of Belfast #CircleCity, an on-the-go recycling pilot scheme.

Belfast #CircleCity pilot scheme was first launched in July 2023 with bright colourful bins installed in Belfast city centre as well as a number of public parks. 25 recycling bins were put in place based on data gathered by Belfast City Council. This included in the vicinity of City Hall, Donegal Place, Corn Market and four public parks; the Botanic Gardens, Victoria Park, Waterworks Park and Falls Park.

The provision of the new bins and efforts to raise awareness of recycling has helped to build a culture of on-the-go recycling in Belfast city centre and increase collection rates in advance of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) being introduced in Northern Ireland in October 2027.

In a survey of the public while 96% of people in Belfast reported recycling plastic bottles and cans at home, a notable 67% admitted to neglecting recycling when bins were readily available nearby¹. This underscores the importance of putting in place well-designed on-street recycling infrastructure that makes it easy for people to recycle while walking in the city centre.

An external audit carried out on the performance of the first phase of the Belfast #CircleCity campaign has so far reported positive results with the majority of the public correctly using the bins. In the week-long survey of the campaign 83% of plastic bottles and cans in the areas covered by the recycling initiative were being correctly placed recycling bins, as opposed to the general waste².

Due to the positive impact of the campaign, Belfast City Council is set to expand Belfast #CircleCity with additional funding being secured from the Climate Fund. The funding will help to extend the reach of the campaign, ensuring a growing number of people have convenient access to recycling bins while walking around the city centre and surrounding areas.

Speaking recently, Cllr Micky Murray, Chair of the People and Communities Committee, Belfast City Council, said: “We’re thrilled by the positive response to the Belfast #CircleCity pilot scheme from people and communities across the city. Their active participation in the campaign to date will ensure that each year an estimated 70,000 plastic bottles and cans will be placed in the new recycling on-the-go bins as opposed to being placed in general waste bins. The positive impact of this initiative is only set to grow with the additional funding secured by Belfast City Council. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners at Hubbub and The Coca-Cola Foundation in helping to bring this campaign to life in recent months. I’ve every confidence that the expansion of Belfast #CircleCity will encourage more people in more places to recycle on-the-go.”

Collection Details

• Waste is collected by Belfast City Council’s collection team, who take the materials to a Waste Transfer Station for onward destination to a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) operated by Regen. From here the extracted plastics and metals are sent to re-processors where the metals get remelted into various products including drinks cans and the plastics get recycled into various products including bottles.
• The 25 bins are located the vicinity of City Hall, Donegal Place, Corn Market and four public parks including the Botanic Gardens, Victoria Park, Waterworks Park and Falls Park. Find your closest one with this map.