Special committee meeting to be held to discuss the use of Derry recycling centres by Donegal residents and other non-ratepayers

DUP Alderman Ryan McCready called for the special sitting following controversy over a residents-only sign that was reportedly erected at one recycling centre.

He told the committee: “During the reopening of the centres there was lot of confusion surrounding the erection of signage which illustrated, and I’m going to quote the sign which I have got on a text message from a bystander, ‘this recycling centre is for residents of the DC&SDC only. Proof of address will be required,’ end quote.”

The DUP councillor said there was still “ambiguity around this Council’s position on the erection of that signage”.

“So the questions we would look to discuss with members is: who authorised this sign to go up? And secondly, who authorised this sign to be taken down a short time later?”

Data collected by the Council show between 7.8 per cent and 10.3 per cent of vehicles using the Pennyburn recycling centre in the weeks after it reopened were from the Republic, a small but significant minority.

The number of users from the Republic at Glendermott, Strathfoyle, Claudy and Strahans Road was miniscule.

But Ald. McCready said that with a projected £3m Council deficit he was worried about dealing with waste from outside the Council area. He also said he was concerned about the disposal of commercial waste at civic facilities.

He said: “For every 1,000 tonnes of waste. It costs our council around £120,000 to dispose of it correctly. There are mass reports of waste being dumped on our sites and it is systemic.”

Alliance Councillor Philip McKinney said: “What about the guys from Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council and Fermanagh & Tyrone that come in and just dump rubbish because it’s easier to go to our sites than it is to go to their own sites?

“We would really need to monitor that and I would totally agree with Ald. McCready’s feelings on this.”

Sinn Féin Councillor Christopher Jackson said fly-tipping and the potential cost implication of employing people to monitor the residency status of dump users needed to be considered.

“One of the things we really need to take into consideration is the cost of fly tipping. If we are going to put up barriers to accessing recycling centres to people, regardless of where they are from, who is going to pick up the cost of cleaning up fly tipping and the damage that does, particularly to our rural areas?”

Karen Phillips, Director of Environment and Regeneration, said she could schedule a meeting.