Conditions of use

Council operates an online booking system to access its nine Household Recycling Centres.

Identification Required for Access

Only residents living within the Ards and North Down Borough Council area are eligible to use our Household Recycling Centres (HRCs).

In order to protect the Council's Household Recycling Centre services for residents of the Borough and limit waste processing costs levied upon our ratepayers, those wishing to enter sites may be subject to identity checks. All prospective site users should bring along documentary proof of residency in the Borough (a valid driving licence, utility bill, rates bill or a bank statement showing residential address within Ards and North Down Borough) and be prepared to show this on entry to HRCs.

Sort Your Waste

It is a condition of use of the Borough's Household Recycling Centres that ALL waste brought to the sites is separated and placed into the correct containers for recycling where appropriate. Disposal of recyclable waste items in landfill skips is no longer permitted.

Please also note that, for health and safety reasons, walk-ins are NOT permitted at any of the HRCs.

Ards and North Down Borough Council has made a commitment to Sustainability . Our HRCs are recycling centres, not dumps!

Full recycling participation will be required and disposal of recyclable waste in landfill skips will not be permitted. All HRC visitors will be required to retrieve blue bin recyclable waste items and glass bottles/jars from any black bags they wish to dispose of in landfill skips, and place them in the blue bins/glass caddies provided beside the skips.

We will have increased capacity for mixed dry recyclable materials (items that go into the blue bin). So if you have extra such blue bin materials for disposal keep them separate and put them into the blue bins at the HRC. DO NOT PUT BLUE BIN RECYCLABLES IN THE LANDFILL SKIPS.
Cars, and cars with small single-axle trailers, will be permitted with the full range of materials normally accepted at our HRCs
Van Permits. Following the introduction of the HRC booking system (September 2023) please note, the system will recognise if you have a van and double-axle trailer or another vehicle that normally would have required a permit once you enter it online. There will be no need to separately apply for a permit. As previously, if you use a form of transport that normally would have required a permit, such visits will still be limited to six visits per residential address in a calendar year.
You must sort your waste before you come to the site. A bit of extra time at home will save you a lot of extra time on site - and this benefits everyone.
IMPORTANT: Please ensure you bring ID as proof of residency in the Borough e.g. Driving Licence, Utility Bill showing address. Show this to the attendant at the entrance to the site.
If your items are suitable for reuse/refurbishing e.g. suites, tables and chairs, furniture, bric-a-brac, books and bicycles they will be donated to East Belfast Mission through the reuse containers at the Household Recycling Centres. This programme benefits everyone as the charity is provided with additional stock for their Restore, Refurb and Recycle projects meaning Ards and North Down saves money from reduced waste disposal costs.

Our kerbside collection services, if used to their full potential, should be sufficient to allow you to manage the majority of your waste and recycling at home. If you plan to visit one of our HRCs, please remember:

Sort your waste before you leave the house - separate all recyclables from non-recyclable (landfill) waste items.
You will not be allowed to dispose of recyclable waste in landfill skips.

Please respect our staff and the instructions they give you. We will take a zero-tolerance approach to any verbal or physical abuse and will report any incidents to the PSNI.