A row is brewing at a local council over plans to introduce appointments at its recycling centres across the borough.
The council says its new online HRC booking system is designed to improve its Household Recycling Centre services and customer experience as it announced the move this week.
The new online booking system comes into effect from Monday, September 4, 2023 and means that access to any of the centres across the Borough will only be possible via a pre-booked slot.
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According to the council, bookings will be made quickly and easily online, taking just a minute or two to complete.
An online link to the booking platform will be published closer to the go-live date, which will be available on the council’s website and on a free Binovation App, which can be downloaded on your smartphone.
Those without access to the internet will be able to book by telephone: Monday – Friday, with lines open between 9am and 4.30pm. Residents will be able to book up to two weeks in advance, or as little as 30 minutes before a visit.
Ards and North Down Borough Council provides nine Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) in the district at Ballygowan, Bangor, Comber, Donaghadee, Holywood, Kircubbin, Millisle, Newtownards and Portaferry.
The council says the new booking system will provide a range of key benefits, including protecting HRCs for disposal of household waste by residents/ratepayers of the Borough only, preventing abuse of sites for disposal of trade/commercial waste and waste from outside the Borough.
It added that it will save ratepayers significant amounts of money through reduced waste disposal costs; promote better onsite recycling participation; help avoid lengthy queuing outside sites, especially at traditionally peak periods; smooth traffic flow through sites, meaning site users will find it easier to access containers for various waste streams and allow greater availability of site attendant assistance (providing guidance to site users on recycling etc.).
In addition, the aim is to reduce inconvenience to users caused by turning up at sites outside opening hours or when sites have to be temporarily closed for essential maintenance etc and avoid users going to a site that cannot accept the particular waste types they want to dispose of.
In the coming weeks, the council will be carrying out a communications campaign to ensure that the new improved HRC access system is understood by residents across the Borough.
The local authority announced its plans on its social media platforms on Thursday, prompting a public outcry from hundreds of angry ratepayers. Many have voiced their objections to the move with some branding it "absolutely ludicrous" and an "ill-thought-out plan" and others claiming that it will encourage more fly-tipping.
Deputy Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Hannah Irwin said the new HRC booking system will help manage the demand on the Borough’s Household Recycling Centres.
She added: “It will reduce queues, particularly during peak periods, drive down emissions from queuing vehicles and ensure a smoother, higher quality on-site experience for our residents.
“Managing better access to sites in this way will help reduce traffic pollution, help us achieve our environmental objectives and increase recycling rates as we strive to achieve a recycling rate of 70% by 2030, and significantly reduce the cost of the waste disposal burden borne by our ratepayers as we prevent use of our facilities for commercial and out of Borough waste.
“We have reviewed similar systems in place at councils across the UK and have learned from their arrangements. We hope that residents will find it effective and that it will improve their experience in relation to using our HRCs.”
A council spokesperson told Belfast Live: "This decision was taken by Elected Members during the estimates (rate setting) process for 2023-24.
"Budgets for the HRC service were finalised on the basis that a revised site access model would be adopted, involving the introduction of an online booking system.
"The booking system was demonstrated to councillors at the Environment Committee on Wednesday 14 June who then approved the new integrated online booking system for HRC access and the revised single policy on HRC access and use."
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