Belfast recycling hailed by European delegation

Waste recycling in Belfast has come on with such leaps and bounds that it was today hailed as being among the very best in Europe.

A powerful European lobby group representing more than 120 cities across the continent bestowed the seal of approval after a visit to the city.

They said Belfast could act as an example to other cities in Europe on how to design and run recycling facilities.

The recycling rate has jumped from just 4% two years ago to 17% now and is on course to meet tough EU targets of 25% by 2010.

Representatives of the Eurocities Environment Forum spent several days in Belfast and said they were particularly impressed by the three state-of-the-art recycling centres opened by Belfast City Council in 2004.

Members of the forum described their visit as “very inspiring”.

Alfons Finkers, chair of the forum, said: “For many European cities, the Belfast concept can act as an example of how to design and run a state-of-the-art recycling centre, and other cities can benefit from the lessons learned in Belfast.”

Councillor Peter O’Reilly, chairman of the council’s Health and Environmental Services Committee, said the council had taken the challenge of improving recycling rates extremely seriously and had embarked on a range of initiatives.

“These new centres are at the vanguard of that drive and have helped us push our recycling rate up to 17%, putting us well on target to meet the pending EU targets,” he said.

The recognition received from Europe would not have been possible without the active support and co-operation of the people of the city, he said, urging them to “keep up the good work”.