The comments come after Norwich resident John Browne, 70, was convicted of assault at Cromer Magistrates' Court earlier this week after an altercation that arose from Mr Browne being told that he could only recycle one door per visit to a civic amenity site (see letsrecycle.com story).
Were we to accept unlimited amounts of DIY waste the cost of disposing this waste would have to be passed on to taxpayers, some of whom produce very little waste
Norfolk county council
Norfolk county council has now outlined the policy which was at the centre of the incident at the Worstead site, and said that it still allows large amounts or bulky items to be recycled at its facilities but only under a ‘pay-as-you-throw' scheme aimed at limiting the amount of commercial and industrial waste processed at household sites.
A spokeswoman for the council said: “Norfolk County Council restricts the amount of DIY waste that householders can dispose of at its recycling centres to the equivalent of one 80 litre sack or one large item. We have an obligation to accept household waste, however, under current government legislation DIY waste is not included as household waste and therefore we have no obligation to accept it.”
“Were we to accept unlimited amounts of DIY waste the cost of disposing this waste would have to be passed on to taxpayers, some of whom produce very little waste,” she added.
The council currently allows a small amount of industrial waste to be processed at its 19 centres free of charge, however, it reserves the right to charge for the service at six main sites designed to cater for larger amounts of DIY waste, with prices starting at £15 per car load of DIY.
Through the 'Know before you throw' campaign, the county council said that it has been working closely with DIY stores and garden centres throughout the county to help householders undertaking DIY projects to plan how they are going to dispose of their waste, with local options such as skip hire or reuse projects like Eastex and Freecycle.
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