Fly-tippers pile up rubbish at recycling site (From The Oxford Times)

Fly-tippers pile up rubbish at recycling site

3:00pm Sunday 8th January 2012 in Wantage By Ben Wilkinson

PILES of rubbish were dumped at a Wantage recycling point as dustbin crews battled to clear extra Christmas waste.

A vast mound of bags covered the Limborough Road site before council contractors Biffa tidied the mess on Wednesday.

Vale of White Horse District Council spokesman Martin Crabtree said there had been fly-tipping incidents at most of the recycling centres in the district.

He said: “Our waste recycling crews are currently working very hard to clear the extra waste created over Christmas.

“These areas are usually emptied once a week, although our crews have been visiting them more regularly during this busier period.”

He added: “We would urge residents to ensure they are leaving the correct waste at these sites and only placing material in the bins provided.”

Jenny Hannaby, district council member for Wantage Segsbury, added: “People are obviously using it as a dumping ground. It shows that people are not adhering to the usual waste methods.”

One driver, who did not want to be named, said: “It is horrendous here.”

And Patrick O’Leary, Wantage Town Council member, added: “It is not very attractive and it is the sort of thing that should be addressed.”

But Wantage Charlton district councillor John Morgan there was often too much rubbish for the bins at the site.

He said: “That is normal for this site, go down there any weekend and you will see for yourself.”

In Oxford, in the week following Christmas, 333 tonnes of recycling and 384 tonnes of refuse were collected.

During in the week before Christmas 221 tonnes of recycling and 264 of refuse were picked up by council workers.

Waste reduction body Waste and Resources Action Programme spokesman Gill Dickinson said: “We would encourage people to recycle when they can, but if it is clear their local site is overwhelmed by the post Christmas rush, then to hold on to items for a bit longer.

But we understand that isn’t always possible.”

She added: “We have sympathy with the local authorities as they will have a lot of extra material to work with.”

In the Cherwell district in the week after Christmas 380 tonnes of refuse and 402 tonnes of recycling were collected, compared to 392 tonnes refuse and 408 tonnes of recycling in the week before.

None of the other district councils could provide figures for pre- and post- Christmas waste collections.