'Illegal dumping of cardboard is overloading recycling centre'

It could be the reason that a pilot recycling facility is constantly overloaded.

Only cardboard placed in the containers goes for recycling.

Any overspill is scooped up for landfill.

The problem created at the Little Common recycling centre has been highlighted by an email to Rother's Ask the Leader website.

The questioner asked: "Having just returned form one of my periodic visits to the recycling point, I was disgusted at the state of the cardboard containers, but very pleased to see that there was a council employee taking photographs of the state of it.

"He told me that he has visited five times this year and it appears that the containers have not been emptied at all.

"Obviously the council is taking some action, so I presume there are some sanctions you can take against the contractors. With the other residents there who were attempting to recycle their waste we were able to have a constructive discussion about the problem and suggested that we need more containers at existing points. For example why are there no cardboard containers in Wainwright Road or Beeching Close?"

Cllr Graham Gubby says in reply: "I was also disappointed with the state of the Little Common recycling facility when I visited to 'do my bit' after Christmas. I have to say of course that this time of year does create unusual amounts of recycling material.

"The large (brown) bin is emptied on a Monday, and the two smaller bins on a Tuesday. Apart from the Christmas and New Year Bank Holiday interventions, I have no proven knowledge of "missed" emptying.

"I am also concerned by the cavalier approach of some users; deposition of unflattened boxes is anti-social and plain lazy. The casual abandonment of cardboard outside the containers is illegal tipping; anything deposited outside the bins is taken away by the street cleaning gang, and goes to landfill.

"You are correct in assuming that our officers are taking photographs so that they have evidence against which they can take action - not just against our contractor, if need be, but also against those local commercial businesses who are using the facility illegally!

"East Sussex County Council do provide large (40 cubic metre) skips at both Pebsham and Mountfield (ESCC insist on the terminology Hastings and Mountfield Household Waste Recycling Sites).

"The reason for not yet having even more public facilities for cardboard elsewhere in Bexhill and across Rother is that the Little Common facility is a pilot site.

"We are reliant on an external contractor actually wanting to take the cardboard and having an outlet for it.

"Everyone keeps talking about recycling and putting pressure on the council (quite rightly) to increase the volumes but we must have commercial outlets that are prepared to take it.

"They in turn, will only take it if it commercially viable to do so and is of the correct quality. We managed to persuade the current people to increase their emptying rates but this was difficult due to the costs to them.

"The future of cardboard recycling is unclear, and especially the recycling of the very low grades arising from domestic waste.

"We will continue to do all we can for the residents and will take up any new opportunities to enhance and increase the opportunity for all recycling but as I say unless we have an outlet collection is a waste of time.

"We are also hoping that ESCC will be able to provide some means to help us; the possibility of including the green/garden waste stream for composting, but that facility is some time away yet."