Irate drivers queuing in their to leave waste items off at the Cloonagh Road recycling centre in Downpatrick had a two hour wait this week on Wednesday 24 when a skip lorry broke down blocking access to the site.
However, every cloud has a silver lining, and a spokesperson for Newry Mourne and Down District Council said a new recycling centre will be opened in Downpatrick in a year’s time and was currently being designed.
Many had complained on a social media thread that there had been frequent interruptions to this local waste amenity. Ian Brown, who uses the Downpatrick facility regularly messaged me personally on
and the frustrated comments developed from there.
The chief concern was that the long delays in depositing the waste items could lead to people becoming frustrated and fly-tipping in secluded areas blighting the countryside.
A Council spokesman said: “On Wednesday 24 August, the vehicle that empties the skips at Cloonagh Road Household Recycling Centre broke down in the morning time, causing a delay in emptying the skips.
“The site needs to close during the skip emptying process in order to ensure the safety of the public. A system had been in place where half the site was sectioned off at a time during skip emptying, allowing the skips to be emptied in one part, while the public could use the other.
“People using the site would often ignore the barriers and instructions given by staff not to go past the barriers, which meant the system had to be abandoned. At this time of year the site is very busy, which means more waste and therefore longer times to empty skips, causing longer delays.
“Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is looking at the skip emptying process to see how we can limit the amount of closure time and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“Newry Mourne and Down District Council is currently in the process of designing and building a new Household Recycling Centre in Downpatrick, which will provide improved services to the public. The new site is designed to take a greater capacity of waste and improved recycling facilities. It will be operational by this time next year.”
