A CONCERNED resident fears long waiting times for council recycling bins could spark an increase in fly-tipping.

Maureen Patient-Saunders, of Wordsworth Avenue, has lived in Maldon for 52 years.

She says she has never had a green recycling bin and is worried that, with thousands of new homes being built, waiting lists will get out of hand.

Maureen said: “We’ve never had a green recycling bin – we’ve always managed to struggle and get it down the dump ourselves but it’s not always appropriate to take it down in the family car.

“I rang Maldon District Council to get a green garden waste recycling bin only to be told there is a pretty long waiting list and not much chance of one in the foreseeable future.

“I was advised to fill in the online waiting list form for one which I have done.

“There’s been no indication of how long we will have to wait, they just said it was a long waiting list.”

She added: “It’s not only the odd one or two houses going up here – it’s in Heybridge as well.

“Thousands of homes might want that service and it’s not available for the people that do live here already.”

Maureen fears longer waiting lists could also lead to more fly-tipping.

She said: If people don’t have bins, they might just take their garden rubbish and dump it down the road.

“A lot of people do that a lot – there’s an awful lot of fly-tipping in Maldon. If you walk along the path from Essex Road to Morrisons there’s a beautiful track but there’s always rubbish dumped where people have literally come out of their back gardens and dumped it.”

Maureen added: “As it’s a payable service it should be more readily available and accessible.

“It’s a very important service that the council should provide – they benefit from it when they mulch it down and sell it on as compost.

“The recycling bins are good for older people who cannot take their recycling out themselves - there will come a time when we will be reliant on the bins.”

Council resources committee chairman Bryan Harker said: “The council is committed to increasing recycling in the district, including increasing access to the very popular green waste collection service.

“We are currently working on a solution for our customers before the spring and the start of the growing season. We hope to have a decision next month as to how we intend to expand this service.”