Government plans to construct a new purpose-built recycling plant in a bid to tackle the rising amount of material that has to be processed in part due to the periodic arrivals of mega cruise ships, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott said the plans for the new facility, including its possible location, were quite well advanced but declined to comment on them any further yesterday.

Referring to the current plant at Devon Springs, he told The Royal Gazette: “From time to time it labours under stress and strains because it is an inadequate facility. It is part of a ten-year plan here at the Ministry to find a way forward for the funding of a new purpose-built plant.”

He added that he would be laying on special measures over the next few weeks to transport some of the huge backlog of materials from the facility to the Airport dump to reduce the health risks for workers and nearby residents.

Bottles which are normally crushed then taken to the Airport will now be taken there and crushed on site, while the cans and plastic bags will be used as landfill.

“We're hoping to reduce the tins into a manageable unit for the Airport that is acceptable for the environment.”

Mr. Scott said he was distressed to have received a recent letter from Government's Department of Environmental Health that the site carries “the potential for public health nuisance as a result of flies, odour and increased rodent activity”.

He said: “I wasn't aware of how much backlog had accumulated. Once I got a letter from the Environmental Health Department about the potential health risks I felt duty-bound to alleviate conditions there.”

He said he estimated it will take between two weeks and a month to clear most of the backlog of full recycling bags to the Airport Dump but stressed that this was a one-off measure that had been spurred on by the extreme circumstances, including increased recycling loads brought on by visiting megaships and a series of mechanical and technical difficulties at the plant.

And Mr. Scott confirmed that it had been “mutually agreed” between the workers, management and the Bermuda Industrial Union (BIU) that staffing levels would be amended to address the existing backlog of materials, commencing on Tuesday.

But he added: “The best estimate was that, with overtime alone, the backlog would not have been cleared for 12 weeks at most and this was unacceptable. By moving most of it out of there, we should have the problem dealt with within the next two weeks or so.”

He said: “From now on I will be keeping a Ministerial eye on how we manage the site and we will be working with the BIU to ensure that such a problem doesn't occur again.”

Residents of the Devon Springs area complained yesterday that they believed the complex was a “health risk” because the mass of refuse was attracting rats and other vermin to the area.

Area MP John Barritt said he believed the most obvious solution to the problem would be for the site to be shut down and replaced.