New ‘ludicrous’ recycling centre hour cuts in Perthshire have already caused long queues and will ‘encourage fly tipping’, according to locals.
Residents in Blairgowrie are already concerned about the new hours at the recycling station.
The recycling centre in the town was one of six sites in Perth and Kinross to have its hours cut from October 1.
The site has moved from being open seven days a week to five – and is open for three fewer hours on weekdays.
Blairgowrie resident Ian Douglas witnessed the ‘chaos’ unfold on Thursday morning at the site.
He said: “There was a queue along the approach road waiting to get into the site.
“It was already down the street and this was just after 9am.
“I spoke to one of the members of staff and I was told that this was now usual since the introduction of the new hours.
“It was chaos.”
New recycling centre hours will ‘encourage fly tipping’
Ian added: “Blairgowrie is the second largest town in Perthshire and to have these restrictions imposed is ludicrous and very impractical.
“Fly-tipping will be encouraged due to the severe inconvenience.”
The Blairgowrie Recycling Centre’s hours were previously slashed in addition to six other centres in the area.
At the time of the announcement Perth and Kinross Council explained the changes were made to ‘balance the budget’.
Perth and Kinross Council ‘not aware’ of recycling centre issues
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said: “We are not aware of any significant issues at our recycling centres because of revised opening hours introduced this month.
“Changes to opening times were only introduced after analysis of usage data for each site.
“In Blairgowrie’s case, this showed evening usage is considerably lower than during the day.
“Blairgowrie Recycling Centre remains open five days a week, including on weekends.
“Fly-tipping is a crime and there is no excuse for people to dump rubbish illegally.”
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