RECYCLING points across the Kingdom are being used as "mini dumps" amid a huge rise in household waste.

The local authority said the amount of domestic rubbish produced during the pandemic went up by around 20 per cent which has coincided with a fly-tipping "problem" at local sites.

Councillors were told everything from furniture and fridges, to building rubble and commercial waste, has been dumped at the recycling points and Fife Council may have to spend more money on a "dedicated squad" to get on top of the issue.

Head of assets, transportation and environment, Ken Gourlay, admitted that the situation "has been worse at a lot of our key points".

He added: "What we have seen during the pandemic is approximately a 20 per cent increase in domestic waste.

"That's either waste coming through the household bins or through the recycling points, which has created a challenge.

"The situation that's developing, call it fly-tipping or innocent tipping, where people are turning up, the bins are full and they're putting other things in them.

"So there's a problem we're trying to get on top of in terms of contamination."

There are more than 300 recycling points in Fife which typically have larger bins to collect rubbish such as glass, cans, textiles, paper and cardboard.

And Mr Gourlay's report to the environment and protective services sub-committee said: "Although most of Fife’s recycling centres have been open since summer 2020, there have been continued issues with high levels of contamination and side waste/fly-tipping at recycling points.

"Items left at points include furniture, white goods, bagged general waste, construction and commercial waste."

Councillor Jonny Tepp said there was no budget for tidying up overflowing recycling points which were being misused as "mini dumps".

Mr Gourlay responded: "When Fife Resource Solutions come along in a specific lorry to pick up, for example, glass, they can't put any other detritus or materials in there as it would contaminate the load.

"One of the things we talked about before was a dedicated squad.

"The parks, streets and open spaces service is putting more resources into that as it's acknowledged we do have a problem."

Committee convener Cllr Ross Vettraino said: "The first recycling points in Fife were introduced in the 1980s and it fell to street-cleaning staff to keep them tidy.

"That was before we became much more of a throwaway society and the amount of debris and side waste that turns up at these recycling points is beyond the capacity of the street cleaners as you can't just put it in a barrow, you need a vehicle to take it away."

There was also a hint that recycling points may not be needed, or not as many as there are currently, in the very near future.

Mr Gourlay said: "The deposit return scheme which the Scottish Government is bringing in will have an impact on recycling points.

"We hope that a lot of the cans, plastics and bottles that are currently brought to these points will end up in different outlets.

"If the deposit return scheme kicks in and is effective, it will enable us to review our activities in those areas.

"A lot of the recycling points are only there because we don't collect glass at the doorstep in Fife.

"If a lot of that glass shifts to the deposit return scheme that can be operated by different people then that will bring a different focus and that's not too far away."