‘Patience’ call at Derry recycling centres as they reopen post-Christmas

All Recycling Centres were shut on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and reopened yesterday and it looks like this week will again be one of the busiest of the year.

The centres will shut again on Saturday, New Year’s Day while there will be early closing on Friday, New Year’s Eve.

This time last year saw gridlock at Pennyburn and other sites as people tried to access the recycling centres.

Mayor Graham Warke asked the public to ‘Be Patient Recycling’ and only visit if absolutely necessary.

“I would like to encourage the public to back our ‘Be Patient Recycling’ campaign and be conscious about how much waste you are generating over the Christmas period,” he said.

“Be sure and squeeze and squash your blue bin material as much as possible to reduce the need to visit our Recycling Centres. You can also tear up cardboard and recycle it in your brown wheelie bin to leave room in your blue bin and be more creative with leftover food to reduce your food waste.

“This is the busiest time of year at local Recycling Centres as many households generate more waste than usual from the Christmas celebrations and take advantage of the time off to declutter at home. I’d appreciate if you can consider holding off on your trip to Recycling Centres to avoid bottle necks and please be patient with staff who will be dealing with increased levels of traffic.

“Council’s bulky waste service is a free service where larger items will be picked up from your home and can be booked online at www.derrystrabane.com/recycling.”

There will be no disruption to bin services this year and collections will take place on normal collection days. On New Year’s Eve Pennyburn and Strathfoyle will closen at 4pm and all other sites at 2pm.

For more info download the Derry Strabane Recycling App on a smartphone.