Green councillor Darren Green told the meeting that blue bin recycling from Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire was taken to Northern Ireland “just to be sorted and then is passed on to other locations throughout the UK or Europe for processing”.
“So yes, I’m very encouraged to see that there is going to be an effort to change this. I think this council must do everything it can to change this.”
Labour councillor Mike Black, referencing Northern Ireland, said “everybody can see that this looks ridiculous”.
He added: “I don’t like hearing local government review used as an excuse for doing nothing or delaying things.”
Conservative Steve Tierney said: “It’s not ideal to send things to Northern Ireland, I accept that and I’d like to see a change that changes that, but only if it’s cost effective for the taxpayer.
“If this works out to be the cheapest way to do it for the taxpayer then I would carry on supporting doing it, for the simple reason that I don’t think we need to be layering costs upon taxpayers for virtue projects.”