Council plea for no bruck at Hope and Cursiter

Orkney Islands Council is renewing pleas to the community to not leave general waste at the newly re-opened recycling facilities in St Margaret’s Hope and Cursiter.

Both facilities were closed by the Council in March due to issues associated with the pandemic but reopened recently to accept recycling only, in part to enable adequate social distancing for site users.

However both sites have already been subject to misuse with rubbish and bulky items such as sofas and mattresses left by members of the public.

Cursiter reopened just last Tuesday (8 December), and the Hope a few weeks earlier (24 November).

Lorna Richardson, the Council’s Strategic Policy and Projects Manager, said: “It’s disappointing for everyone who worked so hard with our waste team to get these facilities reopened. At the same time we have many, many responsible users and we’re very appreciative of everyone who has observed the current requirements.

“We’d reiterate that leaving rubbish and bulky items at these sites could lead to short term and even permanent closure.

“We may be forced to close sites for several days until waste left is able to be cleared. In addition, not only is fly-tipping a serious offence that can result in a fine or prosecution for the persons undertaking the activity, there is a high likelihood that continued actions of this type could lead to the Council losing the site licence and having to close down the sites permanently.

“We don’t want to risk closure, and we don’t have resources to clear up flytipping as soon as we are notified - so we will look at closing sites should any further incidents take place, to avoid folk thinking it is OK to add to flytipping already there.

“Meantime we’d remind people if they have bulky waste they cannot dispose of through their household waste collection, they can use the appropriate skips at Hatston and Garson.”

Councillor Steve Sankey was involved in efforts to reopen the St Margaret’s Hope site: “Both the Community Council and myself have worked hard along with the Waste Services staff to get this facility back open and it’s regrettable that the actions of a very small number of residents are placing the continued opening of this facility at risk of a forced closure.

“I’m therefore appealing to everyone to ensure that the current rules that are clearly stated on site are adhered to, at both sites, such that we can continue to use them over the festive period ahead. Resources are still stretched and we all need to do our bit to keep to the rules.”

Items currently accepted at the sites are:

• Food and beverage cans, foils and aerosols.
• Scrap metal.
• Paper/thin card.
• Glass bottles and jars.
• Plastic bottles.
• Cardboard.
• Garden waste.
• Waste electrical equipment.

Difficulties in ensuring two-metre social distancing mean that the Bossack recycling centre remains closed for the time being.

The Council is also reminding residents that they may qualify for an additional grey bin for the fortnightly kerbside waste collection. This would be in addition to the standard 240 litre grey bin issued to most households.

You can request an application form for an extra grey waste bin or red bags (if you already receive these) by contacting OIC customer services on telephone 01856873535 or by emailing customer services.