A DUNFERMLINE householder has predicted a New Year of chaos at West Fife recycling centres when new rules are introduced. 

Commercial customers are mainly due to be affected by the new regulations which will be brought in on January 1 – but residents visiting with trailers will need to sign a declaration and provide proof of their address.

Lee Arnold, of Craigluscar Road, fears staff have not been briefed fully on the changes.

His wife visited the Wellwood Recycling Centre last week to get rid of waste from their house renovation work but was told access with the trailer would not be permitted in 2019.

“We have been up and down during house renovations with my trailer and never had an issue,” he told the Press.

“My wife went up about two days ago and first thing she was told was you will not get access as of January because it is over three metres in length.

“When she told me, I went onto Fife Council’s website and the guidance states very clearly that single- and twin-axle trailers are allowed. 

"It says you need to sign a declaration and that would be it.”

Mr Arnold is keen for staff to be updated to ensure that further problems do not arise.

“I use it quite regularly and the workforce are always pleasant and helpful,” he added. “We do have fly-tipping in our area. Many a morning, I get to the bottom of my driveway and someone has dumped old car tyres or a fridge at the side of the road and it is at my cost to get rid of it. 

"That is just going to get worse if they don’t sort it out.” 

Robin Baird, chief operating officer, Fife Resource Solutions, said training sessions on the changes will be held for all recycling centre staff.

He added: “We will continue to review any feedback from householders as the changes are rolled out, to make sure we provide clear guidance to all site users.”

As part of the changes, staff at all the 11 household waste recycling centres will wear body cameras to record instances of abuse towards staff and will support commercial waste transactions.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition is also to be used to gather evidence on vehicle usage, and to help prevent commercial misuse of the sites.