MILE long queues and waits of up to three hours at garden centres and recycling facilities marked the first steps Northern Ireland made out of the coronavirus lockdown.
Cars and vans were parked outside several recycling centres from early morning yesterday as the post lockdown re-opening of some facilities began.
It came after the Stormont executive last week published a five-phase blueprint for lifting restrictions with a small number of changes coming into place for the first time yesterday.
In Bangor, the queue for Balloo recycling centre was more than a mile long with eager householders waiting in the line from one to three hours. Staff at the facility expected up to 400 vehicles to pass through the gates on Monday alone.
It was a similar picture at the Alexandra Park recycling centre in north Belfast where dozens of vehicles were queued up awaiting the re-opening of the facility after almost two months.
Many motorists could be seen reading newspapers and watching their phones as they waited in line.
Derry City and Strabane District Council was forced to appeal to householders to delay their journey to recycling centres due to the large volume of visitors.
In a post on social media, it said: "We are experiencing high volumes of traffic at all of our recycling centres this morning
"Lengthy queues are in place, Please put your journey off until later this evening or later in the week."
Drivers began arriving at Comber recycling centre at around 8am, while queues could be seen at the Blackstaff Way facility in west Belfast from shortly before 8am.
At the Palmerston facility on the Holywood Road in east Belfast, the queue had formed hours before it was due to open at 9am.
Ken Mills, who was first in line at Palmerstown from 7am, said he knew he needed to be "on the ball here".
"I've had a two-hour wait, but I don't mind because I am getting rid of a lot of stuff that has been cluttering the garage," he told the Press Association.
"It wasn't so much from a clear-out - my daughter moved house and has been buying a lot of furniture and stuff which all comes in a lot of cardboard.
"She has been storing it in my garage so I had the job of getting rid of it."
There was also a steady stream of customers at numer.ous garden centres across the north yesterday as people ventured out to gather plants, flowers and accessories
Many businesses have spent recent weeks preparing their centres to enable customers to practice social distancing during their visit.
The owners of Hillmount Garden Centre, which has outlets in Belfast, Bangor and Newtownards, said the safety of staff and customers was "paramount" as the re-opened their doors.
They have implemented numerous safety measures, including a limited number of visitors in store, with each shopper required to use a trolley to assist with social distancing, staff wearing protective equipment and cashless payments preferred.
Owner Robin Mercer said: "We have learned a lot, over the last few weeks we have been preparing for today, getting all the precautions in.
"We have maybe gone a bit overboard but I am happy we are ahead of the game and taking all the care we can for customers as well as staff."
