Waste is going to waste!

Powys County Council said it is “horrified” after revealing that rogue users are dumping items such as VHS tapes and baby change mats in cardboard recycling bins at their public sites.

Branded as “irresponsible” and “selfish” by the regional authority, the council explained that it is resulting in tonnes of contaminated waste heading to landfill instead.

“We are horrified at the types of rubbish we are finding in some of our community recycling sites” said Cllr Heulwen Hulme, Cabinet Member for Waste and Recycling. “Some of our residents have no respect, choosing to dump their waste in these community recycling facilities. 

“This type of contamination is classed as fly-tipping and not only means that our poor staff have to go through and sort the rubbish by hand, but also often results in all the material within the bank rejected by the recycling processors.

“This selfish behaviour of a few irresponsible people is a huge waste of everyone else’s time and effort and results in recyclable material needlessly going to waste.

“The contamination found within a recent load of cardboard collected from community recycling banks was shocking. On inspection our crews found items such as clothes, shoes, baby change mats, polystyrene, VHS tapes, electrical equipment, plastic bags, cans… the list goes on.

“Luckily for us (not so much for the guilty fly-tippers) there was also of evidence of the perpetrators names and addresses left within the bags of rubbish who can now expect to receive a fixed penalty notice and a warning any day now.” 

Members of the public are urged to report any incidences of contamination that they find or witness at the community recycling sites.

The council revealed that CCTV is in place at several of the sites and is also being used to prosecute offenders.