Faith Waste

Funded by Belfast City Council through the Better Belfast scheme (from Landfill Tax Credits), the aims of the Faith Waste Project were to:

· Educate and promote waste minimisation among Belfast faith groups and for them to reduce their waste,

· Raise awareness of the inter-relationships of the various environmental, social and economic aspects of re-use,

· Establish linkages between the faith communities and groups involved in social projects to promote re-use (e.g. charity shops),

· Encourage people to realise that items which are no longer of use to them can have a productive use for others, either at home or abroad.

Over the 12 months of the programme Sustainable Northern Ireland worked with more than 20 faith communities within the Belfast City Council area; encouraging the concept of 'reduce, re-use, recycle" and promoting a waste management programme tailored to their specific needs. Field study visits to recycling centres were arranged as well as workshops to raise awareness and highlight good practice. These, plus a series of newsletters, allowed exchange of information, updates from groups and networking. This programme is still active with the groups involved spontaneously moving beyond the waste agenda to also tackle the emerging climate change agenda in Northern Ireland.