Unmanned opening of Garson centre ends

The unmanned Monday opening of the Garson recycling centre in Stromness has come to an end by the council due to illegal dumping, including of hazardous waste.

As a trial, the site has opened on Mondays since September last year, on an unmanned basis.

However, the OIC have said that due to a number of littering and fly tipping instances – including illegal dumping of hazardous waste – during the unmanned opening times, the council has no option but to end the trial for public health, and safety and environmental protection reasons.

Darren Richardson, the OIC’s head of roads and environmental services, said: “The Garson site has been open on Mondays on an unmanned basis since September 2013. We did this on a trial basis, but there have been a number of litter and fly tipping incidents during times when the site was unmanned, including the illegal dumping of hazardous waste.”

He added: “Unfortunately, it means that the council has been left with no option other than to end the trial to ensure public health and safety and the protection of the local environment.

“The council will look to review this position in future if appropriate resources and control measures, such as CCTV, could be put in place. In any event the council must satisfy the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, who approve the licence conditions to operate the site.”