Wednesday 13th April 2016: Anthea Owens, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council: Recycling
Using slides to illustrate her talk Ms Owens began by demonstrating the scale of the problem presented by waste management and recycling. On average each household produces 1 ton of domestic waste per year, the bulk of which is dumped in landfill sites. FODC [Fermanagh and Omagh District Council] operates two landfill sites, Tullyvar in Co Tyrone and Drummee in Co Fermanagh. In 2014 – 15 the Council spent £3.5m on collection and a further £4.7 m on disposal. The remainder of Anthea’s talk was on the theme of Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, Recovery. Food waste averages out at £60.00 per household per month. For advice on how to reduce this she referred her audience to the website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com. Discussion about the appropriate way to dispose of textiles, plastic, glass, paper, card, metal, ashes, polystyrene and paint made for lively exchanges and generated many questions. In closing she encouraged members to download the FODC app “bin-ovation”, which contains useful information on waste management and recycling in the local area. Anthea was warmly applauded for her talk which had kept members fully engaged for over an hour.