Call for bigger recycling bins.

PILES of cardboard have been building up at a recycling point in Honiton, leaving “a lot of mess”.

That is what the town council heard at a meeting last week.

The town’s recycling champion is reminding householders that cardboard not placed in provided bins cannot be recycled.

Councillor Sharon Pavey, who recently met with representatives from Tesco, which hosts the recycling service at its Battishorne Way store, said: “There is a lot of mess in the recycling area. People are literally dumping anything up there.

“Anything left there that is not put into the skips is just put in landfill and not taken to recycling centres.

“Cardboard left on the ground is just going into landfill.”

Councillor Nick Cornwell added: “The recycling skips are not big enough.

“People come from miles around to use them and can’t get things into the skips and leave it there.

“It does not seem unreasonable to me that something should be done.

“They have got to be much bigger.”

The bins are currently managed by Tesco.

A Tesco spokeswoman said: “The bins are emptied by the council regularly, although we have requested extra collections.

“In addition to this, our staff are going above and beyond to try to keep the recycling area tidy, but we would ask our customers to think about the environment and ensure they put their recycling into the bins, rather than leaving it next to them.”

East Devon District Council is currently piloting a kerb-side cardboard recycling scheme in Beer, which, if successful, could be rolled out across the district.