Issue 298 – Flytippers to blame for removal of popular recycling facility

A group of recycling banks in Sainsbury’s car park are being removed after being targeted by fly tippers for months – despite the banks being just 300 hundred yards from the local recycling centre.

Somerset Waste Partnership, which manages the facility on behalf of the council, says that increasing clean up costs caused by repeated fly-tipping have forced the removal of the recycling banks.
People have been leaving household refuse, which is unsuitable for the banks, at the site despite there being a recycling centre which would take the refuse just 300 yards away.
Steve Read, managing director of Somerset Waste Partnership says, “The recycling banks for cardboard, glass and plastic bottles, paper and clothes, have been targeted by fly tippers for months.
“It’s a significant problem. A minority of people see these banks as a dumping ground and the cleaning bill is picked up by the council tax payer. It also looks messy for Sainsbury’s who have been good enough to host the banks.
“Experience has shown the only truly effective action we can take is to remove them. Fortunately this part of Frome has other facilities and it’s only a short hop to the recycling centre, where all these materials and many more can be recycled.”
The recycling banks will be removed on April 15th.
A spokesperson for the Sainsbury’s store said, “It is unfortunate that the bins have had to be removed but we will hopefully be able to have them back again in the future.
“At times it has been such a mess and unpleasant for our customers. It is a shame because the majority of people use it sensibly but it is a minority that can’t be bothered to go to the nearby skip.”
For more information on recycling and waste, including advice on how you can reduce the amount you produce, visit www.somersetwaste.gov.uk