And their survey said . . .

According to the survey the proportion of residents who ‘always recycled’ or ‘did a lot of recycling’ moved from 62% before the trial to 92% as a consequence of it.

Some 71% of residents surveyed reportedly agreed they were recycling more waste in their green and brown bins, with 18% not giving an opinion and only 12% disagreeing.

Some 69% of residents surveyed reportedly agreed they would be happy to recycle more waste through the trial bin collection model if it helped save money that could be reinvested in other services and assist in minimising rates bills; 18% did not express an opinion and just 13% disagreed.

Just 13% of residents are said to have specified a preference to revert back to the previous - fortnightly - bin collection model, with only 1% asking for the new system to be stopped completely.

Officers reported just 1% of residents stated that they had reason to travel to the recycling centres with extra black bin waste as a result of the scheme.

They reported a 35% fall in waste placed in black bins (peaking at 43% over the Christmas holiday period) a 35% rise in dry recyclable waste placed into green bins (peaking at 232% on one bin collection route again over the Christmas period), a 25% increase in compostable waste placed into brown bins (peaking at 157% on one route over Christmas) and a kerbside recycling rate of 64.5%, compared to a Northern Ireland average of 33.7%.

Councillors heard the trial saved Banbridge District £0.5m a year over the cost of the average performing NI council.