£5m contract for recycling firm

Company has won NI's largest recycling contract

A charity-run recycling company has won a £5m contract with 11 councils to process waste materials.

The contract awarded to Bryson House Recycling will create 22 jobs and is the largest recycling contract ever awarded in Northern Ireland.

It will allow Bryson House to process materials such as paper, cards, cans and plastic bottles.

A new £1m recycling facility was opened in Mallusk on Tuesday to cater for the new contract.

It will manage approximately 60% of all household recyclables collected at the kerbside in Northern Ireland.

Bryson House began recycling in 1993 with the launch of the Cash for Cans service, recycling approximately five million aluminium cans every year since then.

In 2001 Bryson House began the kerbside pilot by collecting from 8,000 households.

Bryson House Recycling, a joint venture between the company and Ealing Community Transport, currently provides the kerbside service to 145,000 Northern Ireland homes, in partnership with seven local councils.

Nick McCafferty, chair of Bryson House Recycling, said it was an important day.

"The new facility will allow us to process 45,000 tonnes of recyclables annually, which will significantly reduce the amount being landfilled in Northern Ireland.

"It will also help us to meet one of our key goals; the creation of a sustainable and community-focused solution to waste management," he said.

Enterprise Minister Angela Smith, who opened the Mallusk facility, said the recycling company "is an excellent example of a social economy business which is helping to protect the environment whilst generating a healthy profit".