Ards and North Down borough to trial extended evening hours for household recycling centres

Ards and North Down is set to expand its Household Recycling Centre opening hours in a trial set for this summer.

Elected representatives at Ards and North Down Council this week voted for a four month try-out with an expanded service in the evenings from June to September, to address the reduction in HRC opening hours in the borough during Covid.

Council officers proposed the reintroduction of limited evening opening of the HRCs during the months of July and August 5pm to 8pm, but after a proposal by the DUP, this was increased to four months, despite opposition from Alliance councillors to the DUP plan.

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At the council’s Environment Committee meeting on Wednesday, DUP Alderman Naomi Armstrong Cotter said: “Of course we want the opening hours reverting back to what they were pre-Covid. We changed them then, and we haven’t changed back.”

She said: “New summer opening hours should not be limited to July and August, and should be for those lighter months. I would ask for an amendment including also September and June.

“I would like them to open a few nights a week, and perhaps this can be teased out at the rates setting process.”

She added: “We’d all like to see them open most nights I am sure, but that doesn’t seem to be a possibility with our financing, therefore I would like to ask we extend the (proposal) for summer opening hours.”

On a vote on the DUP proposal, 10 elected representatives were in favour, from the DUP, UUP, Green Party and SDLP, while three were against the proposal from the Alliance Party.

A figure of around £22,000 was given to councillors for the budget estimated for a two month trial, and the DUP plan will effectively double this, council officers confirmed. The trial times and HRCs are yet to be confirmed.

Alliance Councillor Patricia Morgan said: “While I (agree to) making the HRCs as accessible and convenient as possible for residents, I also think we have to be very mindful of our budgets. We don’t actually have any indication of demand and desire for this.”

All the borough HRC sites are currently open 8am to 4.40pm Monday to Friday (except Holywood which is closed on Thursdays), plus Saturdays 8am to 4.10/4.40pm. Two sites, Bangor and Holywood are also open on Sundays.

The council says: “The existing schedule of opening provides overall booking capacity well in excess of demand, with booking figures for all waste data reporting periods during which the access booking system has been in place running at around 30 percent averaged across all sites. Very few queries or complaints have been received about availability of booking slots, or that site access is not available when residents need to use them.”

It adds: “As part of the rates setting process for 2025 – 2026, officers have considered the reintroduction of limited opening of the HRCs during the months of July and August, from 5.00pm to 8.00pm, to accommodate residents who are unable to visit sites during the existing schedule of opening hours across the week.”

Officers have suggested the option of alternating the additional evening opening hours across the nine HRCs from Monday to Friday as follows: Monday - Donaghadee and Holywood, Tuesday - Comber and Millisle, Wednesday - Portaferry and Ballygowan, Thursday - Newtownards and Kircubbin, and Friday - Balloo HRC - Bangor.

Ards and North Down Borough has saved over one million pounds in landfill costs over the past year, since introducing new stricter access to its Household Recycling Centres.

At the December meeting of the Ards and North Down Council Environment Committee, elected representatives congratulated officers on the savings, which were announced as part of the waste management performance statistics update.

For the 12 month period, June 2023 to June 2024, landfill cost saving to Ards and North Down Borough Council ratepayers compared to the baseline 2021-22 reporting year, based upon current landfill gate fee/landfill tax is £1,059,578. Added to this is around £100,000 in landfill haulage cost savings.

Ards and North Down has experienced a long and arduous journey in tackling poor waste recycling figures - for years it was the council area with the worst figures for recycling and landfill. In September 2023 access to Household Recycling Centres in Ards and North Down moved online in a council bid to crack down on “waste tourism” from residents in neighbouring council areas.

Councillors agreed to introduce a new online booking system for access to its nine Household Recycling Centres, meaning that access to any of the nine centres only became possible via a pre-booked slot. The change met some resistance from locals, with a petition on campaigning website Change.org, opposing the rules receiving thousands of signatures.

However the accumulated waste and cost figures appear to have vindicated council officers who proposed the new system and those councillors who supported them.