A new purpose-built recycling plant is set to be constructed at the Government quarry at Bailey's Bay.

Government intends to close down the existing site near St. Brendan's Hospital as part of a ten-year plan to upgrade waste management on the Island, said Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott.

The new site will be more efficient and more pleasant for staff, who have objected to the excessive heat at the current facility.

And it will please neighbours near St. Brendan's who have complained that the plant there attracts rats and that waste sometimes escapes, Mr. Scott added.

Government has assigned $1.5 million for the plant, and the project has already gone out to tender, although there is no firm date when it will be completed.

“It's part of our ten-year waste management programme at the Ministry,” Mr. Scott told The Royal Gazette.

“It will now provide Government and the Bermudian public with a purpose-built plant. The current plant is an old, old plant that we inherited from the previous Government and this one will be very efficient in dealing with waste products.

“Because of the volume of material that is handled, from time to time rats are attracted to areas and there are numbers of complaints about rodents and some material that may escape the plant.

“We've approved $1.5 million, but I have figures that go a little higher, but whether we need more than that, we'll wait to see.

“Now, we don't really invite folks to recycle to any great extent because any waste increase is hard to deal with, but with the new plant environment, there will be an educational commitment to more recycling.”