Angus recycling efforts have been dealt a blow at the very beginning of the year, as vandalism forced a town’s green bin waste to be sent directly to landfill.
The Forfar recycling centre and waste operations depot was broken into between 11am on Sunday and 7am on Tuesday. Four kerbside vehicles were vandalised, their tyres were slashed and graffiti was sprayed on the bodywork.
A council spokesman said: ”This caused major disruption to the planned kerbside collections on Tuesday. We disposed of the recyclable materials in the usual way apart from a small amount collected with another vehicle in which the some of the contents were contaminated with broken glass and had to be landfilled.
”The vandalism has been reported to the police and we ask that anyone with knowledge of this incident should contact the police.”
However, the council’s account of events after the vandalism is at odds with a source who contacted The Courier to speak on the subject.
The source spoke of ”dual standards” in the council’s eagerness to comply with government targets while still demonstrating a readiness to use landfill when problems arise.
Recycling loads are regularly taken to the council’s landfill site at Lochhead, Forfar, and the situation is exacerbated on double duty days over Christmas and New Year.
The source said: ”There was one vehicle which didn’t have its tyres done so that was used. It was filled right up to the top about four times and put directly to landfill.”
While sympathetic to the circumstances of why so much had to go landfill, and angry at the criminals who caused it, the source claimed there would have been alternatives to sending green bin waste to a hole in the ground.
He said there is a lot of overtime made available by the council at this time of year but none of the workers want to do it, particularly those with families.
”No one wants to work in the dark and the lads have already worked their fingers to the bone,” the source added.
He went on to say this situation, while being a one-off in terms of how it came about, is almost a yearly occurrence.
Whenever there are any breakdowns or other problems caused by the heavy festive workload, vehicles are often sent to the county landfill.
”If anyone asks, the council say that the recycling is taken to Arbroath and separated there,” the source said. ”But it all just goes to Lochhead.”
The Scottish Government would not issue a response until it discussed the matter with Angus Council.
In terms of recycling, Angus Council is one of the underperformers in Courier country when judged against the Scottish Government’s target of 40% waste to recycling.
The local authority managed 37.2% conversion of all household waste in 2010/11, only slightly better than Dundee City Council at 36.2%.
Perth and Kinross and Fife were two of the best performing local authorities, with 44.8% and 47% respectively.
As well as its struggle to comply with Scottish Government targets, the county is rife with reports of illegal dumping.
Figures released to The Courier under freedom of information legislation revealed that 306 reports of fly-tipping were received in 2010-11 and 339 in 2009-10.
Last year Arbroath Community Council called on residents to take more pride in the town after debris was found to have been tipped into the Brothock Burn.
Household and industrial waste was also dumped across Emmock Road, presenting a hazard for motorists.