FLY-tipping has already begun in Newport as the last day for the town’s skips looms large, it has been claimed.
Newport Community Recycling Centre, in Springfield Industrial Estate, will close for the final time on Sunday.
A busy weekend of waste disposal is anticipated as residents rush to get rid of their rubbish before the centre’s gates are closed at 4.30pm. Many people have claimed that the move will lead to mass fly-tipping across the area. And some believe that has already begun.
Karen Kitchen, of Wrekin Avenue, came across rubbish dumped on the side of the road near Aston Hill this week.
She said: “I ask myself whether this is the start of things to come now that the recycling centre is about to close.
“A beautiful landscape can so easily be destroyed by mindless fly-tipping.”
Last week Edgmond resident Brian Howett said he discovered 14 tins of paint, two old television sets and tree stumps dumped in Chetwynd.
Stephen Davies, vice chairman of green group Newport 21, is in no doubt that the problem will increase.
He said: “It’s short-term economics and it will undoubtedly lead to an increase in fly-tipping.
“I’m not condoning it, but there will be people saying I’m not driving to Telford to the nearest recycling centre, I’ll chuck it here and forget about it. The council say they are listening, but they don’t.”
The controversial move has been made to meet an ‘unprecedented savings target’, Telford & Wrekin Council said. It claims Newport’s running costs are £80 per tonne of rubbish compared to an average of £37 per tonne at the other three sites in the borough.
About 1,200 vehicles a week visit Newport’s recycling centre, delivering 2,555 tonnes of material
Three other centres at Halesfield, Ketley and Granville will operate five days a week instead of seven.