Complaint over state of town's recycling centre

Resident Louise Hardwick wrote to Knighton Town Council after she visited the site on Bowling Green Lane and found the paper banks were overflowing.

She said it had been quite windy and there was paper blowing everywhere and it was a mess and the situation was caused because there was not enough room in the bins for people to use them.

She praised the work of Roy Evans who manages the recycling centre but she said if Powys County Council is not clearing the banks regularly then it's a dire situation and as a tourist town, it would not do Knighton's image any good.

Mrs Hardwick said the result is that people are not recycling as much as they can and the county council needs to up its game. She said in the summer the garden waste bins are always overflowing and they need emptying two or three times a week in the summer.

Roy Evans attended Wednesday's town council meeting and explained to members that the county council only has two recycling lorries for the whole of the county to collect bottles and paper, one for the north and one for the south. He said the drivers were doing a very good job but the lorries only have so much capacity and they have to take the items to Welshpool for dropping off. He said if one of the lorries breaks down there is a backlog of work and that is what happened to cause the paper banks to overflow.

Mr Evans also explained that the council uses front loading lorries to pick up the cardboard and green bins, but he said there are only three of those lorries. He said they have a capacity of 11 and a half tonnes but when the green bins are full they weigh about five tonnes so the lorries probably only collect at two places and then have to go to Llanidloes to tip it.

Mr Evans said tin and plastics are collected by Cae Post from Welshpool. There are also books, boots and shows and a clothes bank at the site but Mr Evans said the book bank has not been collected for a long time and he has been told there are no keys to open it.

He said the county council has in total five lorries to cover 72 recycling sites throughout Powys.

Councillor Trevor Johnson said: "The image of our town is at stake and that is something I can't accept." He called for a waste recycling officer to be asked to go and speak to the town council.

Councillors agreed that the clerk should write to the county council to ask a waste recycling officer to go and speak to them.