Well, the inevitable has been confirmed: as of Thursday, September 1 the recycling site at the leisure centre is to close, as stated on the banners in the photograph below.
Rye News received an email from a local resident, concerned about the situation and in it she says: “For years RDC have been taking away beds, mattresses, sofas, chairs, tables, fridges, washing machines, lawnmowers, shelves, garden waste, a bag of set concrete, a very large gas container! Just to name a few of EVERY kind of fly tipping you could imagine.
“The “recycling” is actually landfill – black bin waste – which totally contaminates what recycling there is and also contains food which the seagulls etc pull out and spread everywhere.
“They employed a nice guy to pick this all up and I said: ‘Why don’t they prosecute; they’ve got CCTV?’ At that he just smiled and laughed.
“I had hoped something would come of our MP’s stated war on fly tipping but, no. We have lost a valuable recycling centre.
“It was in the WRONG place. Drive up to a remote spot and dump your black bin waste and your double mattresses etc. That’s what happened.”
This says it all, and as I was in Rye on Monday I decided to see for myself what the problem was; the photos taken at the time speak volumes. The bins themselves were all overflowing, on the ground were bags of household food waste and having been attached by gulls their contents strewn all over. There were doors, a sofa, mattresses and various other items which added to the chaos.
I remember there were similar scenes when the facility was at Gibbet Marsh car park until it moved to the leisure centre, but who can blame Rother District Council for closing it. Would you like to be confronted with this ugly scene and then expected to clear it up on a regular basis? The photo below was taken on March 30, 2020, during lockdown. What a difference.
Rother District Council offer a service collecting large unwanted items. It’s not free or cheap but it’s there if you need it. Mountfield recycling centre is probably the nearest to us. It’s a shame the leisure centre one has been abused but when it’s gone where will the fly tippers strike next? Back to the country lanes, beauty spots and open fields I suppose…
Image Credits: Nick Forman , Joyce Mcleman .
Such a shame this site was abused and understandably now has to close, agreed it was disgusting!
We recycle all our glass and plastics but living above Rye Retreat as far as I know do not have a green bin or pink bag collection, and in a bid to reduce our carbon footprint we gave up our car last year..
I’m wondering if we put bags of recycling out on Cinque Ports Street they would be collected?
If someone can advise which day/time the recyclables collection is..
You will have a recycling collection every other week along side your general rubbish. Next recycling is Monday the 15th, you can get pink bags in bargain box. We are in the high street so collections will be the same.
Well yes, if you charge big $$$ on top of the MASSIVE council tax you will get the unscrupulous taking shortcuts!
I emigrated from Rye to the Azores (EU, Portugal) about 9 years ago and our council tax here is around €370 for 3 properties and what we can’t recycle, we drive to the free tip.
What is it about GB that makes it’s bloated councils so inefficient and massively expensive compared to… most of the world?
Rother’s share of the Band D council tax is only £193. The rest is made up by County Council, social care, fire and police. By far the greatest part is the County Council at £1,422. Rother is the collecting authority and so gets blamed for the rest.
I have no idea how these services are paid for in the Azores, but I’ve no reason to think what we pay is unnecessary.
Same old story, the minority wreck it for the majority.
Fly tipping is disgusting and it seems that some people think it’s acceptable practice, let’s just hope the culprits don’t decide on dumping it on beautiful countryside instead and start acting responsibly.
And that’s exactly what will happen.
What a disgrace! I think this says a great deal about us as a society.
Litter has permeated every single aspect of our lives. We only have to look at the rubbish and detritus along the verges of the station and adjoining car parks for example, and then to see that on the ‘other side of the fence’, we cannot be bothered to take responsibility for anything we don’t want and happily discard our rubbish and unwanted items for someone else to deal with. As Steve suggests, it does beg the question where people will now go to unload their rubbish, dump it or fly tip.
There is also a very efficient recycling centre in New Romney – and yes, it’s KCC run and booking is still required.
To end on a positive note, it’s good to see a ‘before’ photo during the lockdown with some greenery!
I blame a quite a few things on Rother but here we need to blame the few who spoil it for the many and don’t feel any social responsibility.
And Mark I am European and not very happy at the moment living in this country but not everybody has the option of emigrating.
‘ who can blame Rother District Council for closing it’ is asked in the above article. Many people I would suggest. There is an obvious demand for a refuse facility in Rye evidenced by the amount dumped at the leisure centre.
Instead of closing this facility, it should be expanded, not necessarily at the same location, but a site where skips can be provided for rubbish alongside recycling bins.
The suggestion that taking rubbish to Mountfield by numerous vehicles is hardly a ‘green’ approach, perhaps taking to the Kent financed centre at New Romney is a better resolution for RDC, as it will cost nothing to them – but will it?
The current plan to deprive Rye of its’ facility with fly-tipping being the inevitable result, will actually cost Rother a great deal of money to collect and transport waste from various locations, whilst it despoils the countryside waiting to be reported and collected.
Rather than reducing services in our area,ie. outside of Bexhill, more should be done to provide the facilities that the residents of Rye and its’ environs require. Perhaps it is time for Rye Town Council and the adjoining parish councils to present a united front to this end.
Fly-tipping is a scourge, of course, but one of the main problems is the location of the nearest recycling centres (tips) to Rye. The Mountfield facility and the New Romney tip are both 13 miles from Rye; there is nothing between them in distance terms. New Romney (Kent) provides a better tip as it’s more spacious and it requires less lifting to dispose of items. What is urgently needed is a recycling centre much closer to Rye. RDC knows this. To visit either of the existing tips requires a round trip of 26 miles, or probably £5 – £6 in petrol/diesel at current prices, plus the emission of carbon from your vehicle. It’s not an environmentally sustainable option. The lack of a nearby tip simply encourages fly-tipping.
Why do RDC have to charge a lot of money to pick up your big items ect ect , when we pay a small fortune in Council Tax every month.I believe if the charges were lifted it might just stop the fly tipping!!
We have had 3 different recycling centers in Rye over the years, and sadly all have been abused,by some people, and now others have to suffer because of it. One wonders was the cctv cameras working down at the leisure centre, and if so,why have Rother not prosecuted some,for blatant fly tipping.
Recycling centres are ok but they need to be manned and secure when not in use but people will still leave rubbish up against the gates.
There’s plenty of footage of people fly tipping under cameras and still they don’t get caught, if there’s money involved people will find a way round it, legal or not.