SEVENTY per cent of the rubbish dumped in recycling point bins in Fife shouldn't be there.

That's the claim from Lib Dem councillor Jonny Tepp who highlighted the "frequent misuse" and said it was costing Fife Council time and money.

He said their response "came as a shock to me" and added: "In summary, the manager agreed that there was a problem, confirmed that abuse by commercial users depositing bulky cardboard taking up a lot of space was a common problem, and that the cans and plastic bins at recycling points suffered from significant misuse with recent sampling trials showing them to contain up to 70 per cent general waste.

“Furthermore, there were not enough resources to deal with the full scale of the problem, with the intimation that obtaining evidence of businesses using or abusing the points was difficult and, without this, police action was not possible.

“I have requested a briefing on how the service intends to respond to these shocking figures and on what the financial implications of this are for the council in terms of dealing with this issue.”

Cllr Ross Vettraino, convener of the council’s environment, protective services and community safety committee, responded: “It can be good news when the bins at recycling points are full; if it indicates that the community is increasingly using the council’s recycling services – which I would say are the best in the country.

"In such circumstances, the council takes immediate steps to reorganise its resources and organise additional collections.

“With the aid of Zero Waste Scotland funding, the council is hoping to introduce bin sensors, which send out a signal when the bin is almost full. This would mean that collection vehicles could be quickly deployed to reduce, or even eliminate, overfull bins.

“However, the irresponsible use of facilities by some members of the community disposing of landfill waste, compounded by the illegal abuse of the recycling points by the commercial sector, makes the situation worse for everyone.”

Cllr Vettraino added that calls for added security and monitoring were, “not at all realistic and demonstrate a lack of understanding of the logistics involved”.

He said: “To prevent the abuse or enforce the law requires the guilty parties to be observed in the act and, with over 270 recycling points in Fife, the council could not possibly afford the resources which would be required on a continual basis to make a meaningful difference.

“The council has, however, acquired CCTV cameras, which are mobile and which will be employed at those recycling points where the abuse is most acute. The effectiveness of these cameras will be carefully monitored over the coming months.

“But the real solution is much simpler and would not involve any additional public expense. The solution is for every part of the community to properly use the recycling points and all the other waste disposal services which are provided by the council.

“The problem is that some people just don’t care about protecting local amenities, or protecting the environment or, indeed, protecting the planet and we all need to hold them to account.”