Opening of £1m amenity centre

Opening of £1m amenity centre

6 November 2019

DOWNPATRICK’S new £1m household recycling centre has been officially opened.

The ceremony took place on Tuesday of last week with the new Flying Horse Road centre officially opened by Newry, Mourne and Down Council chairman Charlie Casey.

He was joined by senior council officials including the local authority’s new chief executive Marie Ward, Neighbourhood Services Director Roland Moore and contractors who worked with the council to develop the facility.

The ultra-modern new centre provides ratepayers with a modern, accessible facility to make it easier for them to recycle more of their household waste.

Replacing the previous centre at the nearby Cloonagh Road, the new facility will help the local authority further increase its impressive recycling statistics. The Flying Horse Road centre is also four times bigger than its predecessor.

The council chairman said that the organisation is delighted with the new centre which has been designed to be quicker, easier and safer for people to use.

“With an efficient one-way traffic management system, it allows customers ease of use and access. It will also operate a ‘meet and greet’ system so attendants can best control segregation of recyclables,” he continued.

“The new centre also offers householders an opportunity to recycle a wide range of material including metal, wood, plastic, electrical goods, green waste and batteries. In fact, we aim to recycle 75% of the material that we receive at this site.” 

Mr Casey said that the council is delighted with the amount of recycling that has been carried out and said people who plan to visit the new centre are asked to pre-sort their materials before they arrive as recyclable material is not allowed to be placed in general waste containers.

He added: “I would like to thank all those involved in this ongoing project and look forward to the continued support of householders using the facility.”

Mr Moore also explained that the local council is currently recycling 51% of its overall waste which represents an impressive 10% increase in just two years. 

Describing this as a “tremendous achievement” he said the council is committed to recycling 65% of its waste by 2030. 

He added: “Nearly 25% of all the waste collected in the district comes through our household recycling centres. Therefore, it is important that they are performing as effectively as possible.

“The new, modern facility at Downpatrick improves operations and health and safety around the site, which means residents will be able to increase their recycling and cut down on waste.”