Vermin worries over Big Freeze rubbish build-up

Aidan McPeake, Head of Technical Services at Moyle Council, told the Times on Friday as the Big Freeze was about to enter its fourth week they had no reports to that point of rats being attracted to rubbish.

But there is a concern about rubbish build-ups if the Big Freeze did not come to an end.

The Council advice has been that anyone faced with a build-up of rubbish is allowed to put excess rubbish into binliners and they will be collected when lorries are able to negotiate the snow.

But he said if lorries cannot get through to homes in the next period of time there is a concern that bags could become attractive to vermin.

To counteract that he said the Council has now taken the step of opening the Carneatly Amenity Site on Ballycastle’s Moyarget Road up for household rubbish.

Normally members of the public are not allowed to dump the contents of their general household waste bin at Carneatly but because of the snowy conditions Mr McPeake said local people who have found bin lorries could not get to them, can bring their household waste to Carneatly if they are able to get through the snow themselves.

Mr McPeake told the Times: “We are struggling to get to some of the rural roads although we are doing our best. In areas where the lorries are unable to get through people can put excess rubbish into bin bags and they will be collected as soon as we can get into the areas.

“A refuse lorry weighs 26 tonnes and they can’t get up some minor roads which are untreated. The Glens in particular was hit fairly badly and now it is getting to the stage where the lorries are having trouble going into housing developments in the towns.

“We have had lorries sliding but there have been no reports of accidents.

“If we can’t get through to areas people can put rubbish out in black bags and we will lift it when we can. In the cold weather it is not going to smell like it would during a hot summer period but our concern is that if lorries can’t get through for a substantial period of time vermin could open up the contents and spread them although we have had no reports of that happening.

“We are opening up Carneatly for household bin rubbish if people can get through. We want to reassure people we are trying our best but the conditions are very challenging in some areas and most people understand what we are up against,” said Mr McPeake.