Environmental Services Committee Chair Councillor Ritchie McNicholl has repeated the message that recyclables the Council collects are ‘not for burning’.

Councillor McNicholl, an ardent environmentalist, was speaking in response to recent uninformed comments stoking the misconception that recyclable material collected by the Council was incinerated.

He said: ‘Once again, let me make it perfectly clear. Recyclables do go on a journey, but that journey is not to the incinerator at the energy from waste plant. The journey is to our Ballacottier Operational Service Centre where they are sorted, graded, bulked and baled. The material is then either exported to and sold in the UK or sold on-Island and re-processed, such as glass, which is crushed into sand and used in road surfacing, all of which brings in income for the Council and helps to reduce the rate burden through lower disposal costs.

‘Householders need to understand that the more they recycle, the more gets taken out of the waste stream, and that means the Council attracts fewer gate fees at the energy from waste plant, fees which are on the rise annually. All of this means less impact on the rate and is why I would urge householders to subscribe to the Council’s kerbside collection service.

‘The Council’s Waste Services team does all it can to make recycling easier and more accessible, to make it part of a household’s normal daily routine. But it can’t do that alone. It needs everyone to play their part, individuals, businesses and government.

‘Recycling, though, isn’t just about being the right thing or the responsible thing to do. It’s about helping to reduce our carbon footprint, about taking steps to protect the environment for future generations. And for the Council it’s about delivering on its status as a UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man partner.

‘We all have a responsibility to reduce, reuse and recycle; to think about how we can, if not prevent, at least reduce pollution caused by our activities. This we must do because the natural environment is as much vulnerable as it is precious.’

To find out more about recycling and the Council’s kerbside collection service, visit recyclenow.im or call the Waste Services team on 696445.