It is a month and more since Somerset went into lockdown. The gates of the county’s recycling centres slammed shut and have remained locked. Keep your excess rubbish at home, they said. But even though the vast majority of residents complied obediently, a small handful ignored the rules, packed their rubbish into cars and trucks and took to the open roads – usually after dark – to dump and fly-tip waste problems down someone else’s rural lanes. As the whole nation now begins to consider the future after lockdown it must be high time to think about re-opening the recycling centres – even on a limited basis – to make life a more tolerable. Some may say this is not feasible. I wonder. It is surely not beyond the realms of possibility to control the number of vehicles and ensure that social distancing rules are fully complied with. The Somerset Waste Partnership is so far refusing to budge.
What do you think? Please let me know – drop me an email ianlg@parliament.uk