I WAS disgusted to read in the Review (15/5/2009) the article about the Lydney woman being fined for leaving a cardboard box beside a full-up card recycling bin. What sort of message is this sending out? The local council needs to realise that people who voluntarily take part in recycling schemes are doing the council and the taxpayers a considerable favour by helping achieve compliance with EU waste recycling directives.
I accept that no-one likes the idea of the potential for blown litter and general mess which would result if everyone left their waste materials beside (rather than inside) the receptacles, but if recycling facilities prove to be of less than adequate capacity, the council needs to improve them, or at least put up very clear notices indicating that penalties will be imposed on anyone leaving material outside the containers.
The council message seems to be clear, namely, "First, don't take the trouble of using the recycling facilities unless you are willing to risk being fined for improper use. Second, if you do use the facilities, make sure you remove your name and address from anything you deposit. Third, make sure no council snoopers are watching you."
Come on, council, in spite of your self-righteous protests, you are seen as being heavy-handed in this. We obviously do not want to encourage those untidy, lazy people who would like to dump all their waste material outside the receptacles, but the person in question has given you two very good reasons for her action. Cancel the penalty notice and, on this occasion, just give her a warning – which should always be your action of first resort anyway. After all, she was trying to "do the right thing" by recycling, when she could easily have disposed of the material by sneaking it into her normal household waste collection, to the detriment of council compliance with landfill reduction targets. If I were her, I would never voluntarily recycle anything ever again. Surely that is not what you want to achieve.
I should point out that I am not related to the person involved and do not even know her. I am writing simply on a matter of principle in relation to what I see as the unfairness and inappropriateness of the council's action in this instance. – Resident, Chepstow (name and address supplied).