Antrim and Newtownabbey: 200 complaints about waste over recent period, council told

Antrim DUP Councillor Paul Dunlop BEM highlighted the figure during a meeting of the council’s Policy and Governance Committee at Antrim Civic Centre, on Tuesday (March 3).

Cllr Dunlop was commenting on the quarter three customer services report for the period October to December 2025. He asked if everyone who submitted a complaint has been acknowledged.

“Hopefully that figure has dropped considerably, I know it was frustrating at the time,” he added.

An officer indicated that anyone who spoke to the waste team directly to raise a complaint, will have had the matter discussed and will have been updated if it was an official complaint.

Cllr Dunlop added: “Before and after Christmas, there was a significant number of people making complaints. Their annoyance was they were not getting though. As long as these complaints have been followed up and acted on. Hopefully, these figures will make people understand what happened.”

Councillors demanded that Bryson Recycling be brought into the chamber to provide an explanation for its recent performance which saw delays in bins being emptied in Antrim and Newtownabbey and to provide an update on the waste harmonisation project which saw the roll-out of wheelie box recycling bins in the Antrim area last year.

Shane Logan, chief executive, of Bryson Charitable Group, publicly apologised at the council’s meeting in January for levels of service, which he said, “fell short of those residents and ratepayers have the right to expect”.

Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter