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In County Sligo over 40 sets of bring banks are provided for your free recycling convenience. These are for the collection of certain glass, cans and in some cases clothes.   We are always looking for more sites so if your community would like some bottle banks, please contact us.  If the banks are nearly full please contact 1800 661551 or Sligo County Council on 071 9111908. 

There are also 2 civic amenity sites in County Sligo at Tubbercurry and Deep Water Quay, Sligo for recycling of glass, cans and a wider variety of materials – see civic amenity sites for further details. 

Glass makes up between 6-9% of the typical domestic wheelie bin.  But the types of glass suitable for reprocessing are green, clear, brown glass bottles and jars only.  You have to separate the glass and place it in the appropriately coloured bank. 

Some glass is processed in a different manner and can affect the quality of the recycling glass.   Thus  - the following cannot be placed into a bottle bank: 
Pyrex, mirrors, window glass, plate glass, ceramics, tiles, light bulbs or drinking glasses. Remember glass bottles & jars only.

Due to the chemicals contained in fluorescent light bulbs, they should only be safely disposed of in a civic amenity site, or in a hazardous waste pick-up. 

Glass bottles and jars are NOT accepted as part of any household recycling collections (clear bags) for health and safety reasons. It is also anticipated that many landfill sites will soon ban the acceptance of certain waste items, this is likely to include glass.

Unfortunately in Co. Sligo, as in other Counties, there are still some problems with how bring sites are used.  Leaving of rubbish and illegal dumping are problems.  Other problems are the placing of incorrect materials in a certain bank – eg. putting cans in a bottle bank. 

Even just leaving your recycling beside the banks, rather than placing the bottles, jars and cans in the bank, is illegal as it can build up and costs time and money for them to be cleared up.  It is an offence under the Litter Pollution Act 1997.  Many of our bring banks are on private property and we do not want to loose the goodwill of the landowners. 

Mobile cameras rotate around Sligo’s bottle banks to catch people dumping so even if you leave behind a cardboard box it could cost you €125 fine or a court case and a €3000 fine! 

In the rare occasion of the banks being full, it is illegal to leave your bottles beside the bank – go to another site or return later when the banks have been emptied.  If a bank is full please ring free-phone 1800 661551. 

Sometimes bring banks are used illegally by commercial outlets eg. Pubs.   Their large volumes of glass flood the banks, leaving little capacity for the domestic user and upset the collection pattern. Bring banks are intended for household glass only. Commercial outlets must deal with and pay for their own waste management/ recycling services and stop free loading on this public service.

Bring sites usually include blue panelled receptacles for Aluminium beverage cans. You should not recycle steel food cans in the Aluminium banks but instead place them into your recycling bag.

Some sites also have yellow textile banks, for recycling of clothes and other materials  - see banks for details.  Textiles should always be clean and dry before they are deposited.

Plastic Bottles can now be recycled in kerbside collections and at the county’s civic amenity sites. 

Rehab Recycling Partnership provide and service the bring bank networks all over Ireland. This service is paid for by Local Authorities. To date there are over 17,000 banks Nationwide. All collected glass is brought to a Ballymount, Dublin. Here it’s prepared for crushing into cullet. However much preparation is required before this stage, as the collectors are reporting greater volumes of contaminants – incorrect material in the bottle banks such as plastic/lids/cans. In some cases this can be as much as 40%. Larger contaminants must be removed manually. This task could be avoided if the general public were more careful in how they use bring banks.

Glass is one of the most suitable materials for the recycling process. In the manufacture of new glass, up to 40% of the raw material may be in the form of cullet (recycled crushed glass bottles & jars). Recycling can achieve considerable savings in raw material and energy needs. The addition of cullet assists in the melting process and as recycled glass melts at a lower temperature in the furnace, less fuel is required. On average, for every additional 10% of cullet used in the raw material batch, energy costs are reduced by 1%.

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