Recycling centre '˜scare tactics' seldom work with people nowadays

It appears Hampshire County Council is once again exploring the potential for making a charge for visits to their Household Recycling Centres.

Section 51 of the Environment Protection Act requires councils to provide sites for household waste and the Local Authority Charging Order 2015 specifically prohibits charging residents for disposing of household waste or charging them to enter or leave a recycling centre.

It's therefore puzzling why the council's leader should be grandstanding on this issue when he knows that charging is illegal as the law stands.

Ranked at 205th nationally ,Hampshire's recycling record might be better than some but still has plenty of room for improvement.

Rather than develop new ideas for boosting recycling throughout the county and making money from doing it we're told to consider paying up or lose the service altogether.

Cllr Perry should know that these scare tactics seldom work nowadays.

There must also be scope for rationalising waste services in Hampshire by having an integrated county service with clear targets and common standards and bring to an end the continuing confusion over what can be recycled and in what local authority area

Ray Cobbett

Friends of the Earth

Beach Road, Emsworth