The mountain of blue bags outside the Devon Springs Recycling Centre stems from continued operational problems at the Material Recovery Facility (MRF), the Ministry of Public Works has confirmed.

The unsightly pile-up of TAG (tin, aluminium and glass) items has caused dismay among those passing by the Devonshire facility, which was badly damaged in Hurricane Gonzalo last year.

On September 3, the ministry announced it was experiencing technical difficulties at the TAG blue bag recycling separation and bailing unit at the MRF.

A spokeswoman said at the time: “Replacement parts should arrive on the Island in two weeks and it is anticipated that repairs will take approximately one week to complete.

“In the interim, due to space constraints at the MRF, blue bags will be taken to the old recycling facility at Devon Springs.”

However, the MRF machinery has again malfunctioned, leading to another backlog of recycling.

When asked about the matter by The Royal Gazette this week, the Ministry spokeswoman said: “The MRF was down for some time while certain mechanical systems were replaced.

“Unfortunately, subsequent to these replacements, a further issue recently emerged regarding the air-filtering system.

“This will be addressed as soon as the new parts required to fix the issue arrive in Bermuda.

“TAG materials are being stockpiled at the old recycling facility at Devon Springs until the sorter is operational.

“The use of this facility as a contingency site has been approved by the Department of Environmental Protection, Ministry of the Environment.”

The spokeswoman urged the public to continue recycling, as non-TAG materials such as vehicle batteries and air conditioners are still being regularly shipped out to the US recyclables market.

She added that next year’s garbage and recycling schedule would be delivered Island-wide in early January.

Meanwhile, as 2015 comes to a close, environmental group Greenrock has called on the Bermuda Government to step up its overall green efforts.

Greenrock’s executive director, Jonathan Starling, said: “One thing we think Government should consider is making recycling mandatory, as it is in many other jurisdictions, as well as implementing a beverage container deposit system to increase recycling rates.

“We hope that 2016 will see increased rates of recycling, as well as discussions on how to make waste management more sustainable overall.”

• For information abut recycling, visit www.facebook.com/recyclebermuda or www.greenrock.org