After a successful pilot at two of its sites the council is driving through a policy of making drivers of vans, pick-up trucks and vehicles pulling a trailer will be asked to carry a residents’ permit.

The permit, which is free, aims to speed up the recycling of household waste and stop trades people abusing the sites.

Around 18,000 tonnes, or 13%, of the county’s annual household waste entering the sites could be classed as trade waste costing about £1M, according to the council.

This means the firms creating this waste should be paying to dispose of it rather than council taxpayers.

Councillor for the environment, Lynne Hack, said: “It costs us a lot of money to dispose of business waste, which is a burden the taxpayer should not have to bear.

“Businesses should be paying to dump their rubbish and should not be sneaking it into community recycling centres at taxpayers’ expense. The van, pick-up trucks and trailer permit scheme should put a stop to this.

“Traders who are caught with business waste will be directed to a transfer station with a weighbridge where their rubbish will be weighed and a charge made.”

Luke Walsh

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