When the former Government built the Tynes Bay Incinerator, it was forced by public pressure to introduce recycling schemes for paper and glass as well.

It did so reluctantly and the current Government has shown an equally lackof enthusiasm for the idea, in spite of its obvious environmental importance.

There is no better symbol of recycling’s failure than the photographs of the Devon Springs Recycling plant in yesterday’s newspaper .

While workers have apparently been recently working to rule as a result of a dispute over overtime, the mountain of cans and bottles at the site shows that little or no effort has been made to improve conditions and productivity at the plant for far too long.

To be sure, the work at the plant is always going to be dirty, but providing the staff with the tools they need and better conditions would go a long way to improving productivity and standards.

Indeed, if the Bermuda community as a whole became really serious about blue bagging all their cans and bottles, the recycling plant would have been overwhelmed. The only thing saving the plant has been the apathy of the general public.

So it is good news that Government is now planning to install a new recycling plant. It is long overdue and should go a long way to solving the problems that have wracked the current one.

What is not acceptable is that things have reached the point that the Devon Springs site has been declared a health hazard and Government is now having to move the bulk of the garbage from Devon Springs to the Airport Dump where it will be crushed and used as landfill.

While this will bring some overdue relief to the plant’s neighbours, it is an indictment of the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

Works Minister Alex Scott was honest enough to admit that he was not aware of how bad things had become at the plant and deserves credit for that. But he must make sure that things do not reach such a nadir again and that those responsible are held accountable.

In the meantime, he needs to make the new plant a priority. There is currently no money in the Budget for it; he needs to press Finance Minister Eugene Cox to make sure there is in next year’s.