Lismore City Council’s attempts to find somewhere to put Lismore’s green waste while the Recycling and Recovery Centre is out of action are being complicated by measures to limit the spread of yellow crazy ants.

The centre has been shut down since a fire - which is believed to have started in piles of compost - ripped through Materials Recovery Facility on Sunday.

The council has put interim measures in place for the collection and disposal of waste while the centre is closed and the damage is assessed.

However, the council’s executive director of infrastructure services, Gary Murphy, said there had been delays to waste collection, particularly with green organics bins.

“We are urging residents to be patient and leave bins out until they are emptied,” Mr Murphy said.

“The collection of green waste is complicated by the yellow crazy ant exclusion zones still in place.

“Green waste collected in Lismore cannot be disposed of elsewhere without approval from the Department of Primary Industries.

“We are currently working with the department to implement a solution but this is causing some delays to our collections.”

The exclusion zones are still in place from when the infestation of yellow crazy ants - considered to be one of the top 100 invasive species worldwide - was first discovered in Lismore’s CBD last year.

The restrictions prevent the movement of plant matter and soil within a five kilometre radius of the Lismore Central Business District without approval from Local Lands Services.

In the short-term while the Materials Recovery Facility is inoperable, the council will transport recycling from Lismore to Chinderah for processing while general waste will continue to go to Ipswich via Richmond Valley.

The Brewster Street Drop-off Centre has reopened today and the Nimbin Transfer Station will be open Tuesday to Saturday this week, with additional staff in place. Residents are able to use waste vouchers at this location.

The piles of green waste are still smouldering and the waste facility will remain closed until the fire is completely extinguished and damage to the Materials Recovery Facility is assessed.

Now that the strong winds have abated, the compost piles are being turned and saturated with water to fully extinguish the fire. This could take several days.

Smoke from the fire could potentially be harmful to people with respiratory or lung problems, and warnings remain in place for residents that can smell or see smoke to stay indoors with windows and doors closed until the smoke subsides or use a respirator if venturing outside.

People with asthma who can see or smell smoke can collect free respirators at the Bunnings trade desk by showing ID with a residential address within or around Lismore.

Animals from the Lismore Pound have been moved to Ballina Pound and the Animal Rights and Rescue Group to ensure they are not harmed should the wind direction change and smoke infiltrate the facility.

“The fire has raised a series of complex issues around managing our waste and recycling, and our other operations on site. Council is working through these issues as quickly as we can to ensure the least disruption to residents,” Mr Murphy said.

“Our major focus in the short-term is to extinguish the fire. Once this has been done we can focus on assessing damage to the facility and get an idea of what works need to take place immediately in order to reopen the facility to the public.”