Action needs to be taken at recycling centres which are overflowing during the Christmas period, a district council has been told.
Council recycling centres in Penrith are overflowing with rubbish again this year, and empty beer boxes and Christmas gift packaging has been dumped on the ground when people have found the bins to be full.
It has been claimed that commercial waste is included in the piles of rubbish dumped at Eden District Council’s waste sites outside Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.
Penrith town councillor Jonathan Davies said: “I’ve been sent some pictures of the Sainsbury’s (site) which to the day is almost identical to a year ago, it’s ridiculous.”
He said that residents are trying to stuff rubbish into recycling bins that are already full, or dumping waste at the site. “People just lift the lid and stuff it with more.”
“Eden Council has been asked time and time again to put CCTV systems in place.”
Cllr Davies believes CCTV would “make people think twice” before fly-tipping their rubbish. “All it does is a little gust of wind and that gets blown right across the town. It gets into fields locally, cattle eat it and choke on it.”
Cllr Davies said that rubbish could also be blown around on Penrith’s streets and town centre: “Once that starts happening, it gets to the point where people just lose interest.”
The leader of the Putting Cumbria First Party said that more bring sites would also mitigate the issue. “If there was more, smaller ones that are monitored, I think it would have a lot more impact on stopping this. It is a massive issue that needs looked at and overhauled.”
However, Cllr Davies said that the public should also be taking responsibility. “I don’t know what’s going through people’s minds when they see the bins are full on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, even I wouldn’t expect Eden Council to be out emptying them.”
Eden District Council’s Services portfolio holder Michael Tonkin said that he had been lobbying for CCTV at bring sites.
He said council officers had previously been reluctant to introduce the measure as “it was an intrusion” on the privacy of innocent people.
“I’ve been dissuaded so far not to take it up but things are changing. We’re coming around to the idea that it is a deterrent. If you get a prosecution from one it’s a massive deterrent.”
Cllr Tonkin agreed that it is a major issue that must be addressed.
“We had to close the Plumpton one off the A6, it was just being used as a dumping ground,” he added.
