Charity worried fly-tipped bins could become trend

A cancer charity is worried fly-tipping could become an ongoing problem after rubbish was dumped outside a north Cornwall shop, staff say.

Cornwall Hospice Care's Bude shop has seen a "rise in fly-tipping" in the last few weeks, including six bags of food waste, recycling and general household rubbish left in one go, it said.

Some locals and shop staff have suggested increases may be partly caused by new limits on domestic rubbish and a new booking system for recycling centres. Cornwall Council said it had "not received any increased reports of fly-tipping".

The charity said it was a "worry", adding: "Will they come back to a stack of bags outside the shop when they reopen in the new year?"

The spokeswoman said that the six bags left recently had since been removed by somebody, although the charity was not sure who, meaning there were no costs borne by it on that occasion.

However, she said if the phenomenon continued the charity would have to pay to have rubbish removed.

People living in north-east Cornwall moved over to a new bin collection system at the start of November as part of a phased rollout by Cornwall Council.

The new system limits each household to one wheelie bin collection every two weeks, which equates to about three to four sacks of rubbish.

The council also extended a trial of a new waste and recycling centre booking system to Bude at the end of November, which means people now need to book a time slot.

Cornwall Council said fly-tipping data since the changes were introduced was not available, but it had "not received any increased reports of fly-tipping".

"As part of our booking system trial, we would welcome receiving feedback from the community," it said.

It said fly-tipping could be reported online or by phoning.

The shop said it wanted to "raise awareness of extra costs" to dispose of fly-tipping outside it.

The charity said: "Please be mindful of where you dispose of your waste and the affect this has on our local community."

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