Dundee City Council’s controversial decision to close Marchbanks recycling centre has led to an upsurge in fly-tipping in the city, residents have complained.
Brenda Marr, 63, who lives in the Coldside area, said fly-tipping in the Fairmuir Park and Clepington Road areas has worsened since the nearby site was shut at the end of March.
Mrs Marr walks her dog in the park every day and was shocked to discover how much rubbish had been dumped over the weekend.
“There’s an old bath filled with rubbish in one layby and a pile of broken plasterboard in another,” she said.
“It looks like someone has been doing work in a house and just dumped the rubbish in the car park. There are also bags of rubbish thrown into the bushes.”
The council closed Marchbanks earlier this year and restricted the type of waste disposed of at the two remaining sites at Baldovie and Riverside. The restrictions were later scrapped after The Courier revealed the strength of local opposition towards them.
Mrs Marr believes that the subsequent fly-tipping is due to the closure of Marchbanks and that the only solution is to reopen the site.
“This never happened when the Marchbanks site was open but it has happened quite often since the site was shut,” she said.
She previously complained about the issue to Dundee City East MSP Shona Robison, pointing out that she and her husband no longer recycle as much as they previously did because the six-mile round trip to Riverside is too far.
She added: “It looks like other people have made the same choice, but they are just dumping their waste in the park.”
Dundee environment convener Craig Melville said: “We closely monitor levels of fly-tipping in the city and there was a near 9% drop in incidents from April to July this year compared to the same period in 2012.
“There is no excuse for people to fly-tip in Dundee and we combat this through the use of fixed penalty notices.
“A review of recycling provision in the city is under way and a report will go to the environment committee later this year,” he said.