Illegal Dumping Campaign >>
Tidy Translink Awards >>
Last Year's Results >>

Translink and TIDY Northern Ireland joined forces in a partnership in November 2005, to work towards improving the Local Environmental Quality (LEQ) standards of Translink's property.

Our work with TIDY Northern Ireland concentrates on five key areas:

• Understand the Issues: Data is collected in support of initiatives undertaken, to help assess the need for such interventions, and measure the success of outcomes.
• Promote Awareness and Change Behaviour: Campaigning activities are carried out to raise awareness of LEQ issues, educate and change the behaviour of target groups.
• Involve Communities: Local communities play a very important role in both creating and addressing LEQ issues on Translink’s property. Therefore it is vital the work of the partnership involves these groups where practical. 
• Enhance Facilities: Providing clean, well maintained and attractive facilities will ensure customer satisfaction, and a pleasant working environment for staff.
• Develop Inter-Organisation Communication: The role of communication in-house at Translink and with external organisations is vital to ensure continued success in tackling LEQ issues.

Illegal dumping is an on-going challenge for Translink. Every year thousands of pounds are spent clearing away items such as furniture, electrical goods, and general rubbish from the rail track sides.

Illegal Dumping poster (Adobe
PDF document 510kb) - click on the
image to open a pdf version of the poster

Dealing with this issue causes delays to services and disruption to passengers. More importantly it can have massive safety implications due to trespass on to the tracks, risks to employees, and the potential for collisions between trains and the dumped items. 

To tackle this issue an information leaflet has been produced which details the main problems associated with illegal dumping. It also provides a complete list of local council numbers which you can use to arrange to have bulky waste removed from your home.  

Illegal Dumping leaflet
(Adobe PDF document 1.36mb)

If you think you have unwanted bulky items such as furniture or electrical goods which are in a reusable condition contact one of the charity shops also listed in the leaflet to arrange a collection or donation in your area.   

Tidy Translink Awards

Translink employees across Northern Ireland are going the extra mile to ensure that bus and train facilities are kept clean, tidy and environmentally-friendly following the launch of the TIDY Translink Awards (a joint initiative between TIDY Northern Ireland and Translink).

This initiative supports and recognises the efforts of employees in developing a culture of continuous environmental improvement as well as acting as a driving force for the encouragement of cleaner and brighter facilities that invite both our passengers in and also make our employees proud.

There are 10 environmental performance assessment categories:

• General Cleanliness;
• Litter Awareness;
• Graffiti Awareness;
• Exterior Maintenance;
• Waste Management;
• Translink Brand;
• Facility Enhancement;
• Community Involvement;
• Energy Management and
• Environmental Communication.

Locations are rigorously assessed in the above categories, and then awarded either a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum TIDY Translink award standard.

Translink’s Group Environmental Manager Andy Bate says the focus this year is on encouraging employees to build on last year’s awards success:

“TIDY Translink forms an important part of our overall ‘Go Eco’ drive in which we are committed to caring for the environment and strive for continuous environmental performance improvement right across the company.

“The awards have attracted 38 bus and train location entries from across Northern Ireland, demonstrating the commitment of our employees to make a positive difference to the Translink network and to improve passenger experiences while using public transport.

“Last year, saw another rise in the number of locations achieving the top Platinum Standard, from 5 in 2010 to 7 in 2011.  This year, we are asking employees to take those extra steps that will ensure they maintain or exceed these excellent results. We hope our passengers will also support our efforts to improve facilities in their area,” said Andy.

TIDY Northern Ireland’s local environmental quality officer Chris Allen said:

“It was great to see the standards last year were so high – there were some stations that had really become a hub for their community and this was reflected in their Platinum award achievement.

“There were also a number of stations that missed out on a higher award by a very small margin and I look forward to seeing what they have done this year to improve their overall environmental performance. With a little more effort and maybe some helpful tips from previous Platinum station winners they should all do very well.”

2011 Results
Platinum winners: Carrickfergus NIR, Coleraine UB & NIR, Downpatrick UB, Jordanstown NIR, Lisburn NIR, Londonderry UB, Portadown NIR.

Gold winners: Bangor NIR, Bangor UB, Belfast Central NIR, GVS NIR, Laganside UB, Limavady UB, Newcastle UB.

Silver winners: Ballymena UB, Ballymoney NIR, Greenisland NIR, Larne Town NIR, Larne UB, Lisburn UB, Lurgan NIR, Magherafelt UB, Newry NIR, Yorkgate NIR.

Bronze winners: Antrim NIR, Antrim UB, Armagh UB, Ballyclare UB, Ballymena NIR, Botanic NIR, Cookstown UB, Dungannon UB, Enniskillen UB, Europa UB, Newry UB, Newtownards UB, Omagh UB, Strabane UB.