Surrey bans Croydon residents from using its rubbish dumps

29 August 2009

CROYDON residents have been banned from using Surrey rubbish tips.

Surrey County Council's decision means residents in the south of the London borough must show identification proving that they live in Surrey before they are allowed to use any of five of its waste and recycling sites.

The ban will not please residents who live in areas such as Kenley, Old Coulsdon and Sandestead since the tips just across the border are closer than those in Croydon.

Surrey residents who find it easier to use Croydon's dumps will still be able to do so. Croydon Council does not have a similar ban and rarely asks for proof of address from visitors. As well, it charges ‘outsiders’ only £4.

The Surrey ban applies to sites – which include Chaldon Road, Caterham, and Bond Road, Warlingham – from October 5.

Old Coulsdon councillor Chris Wright believes that landfill tax is the reason for the policy change. The more waste that councils dump in landfill instead of recycling, the larger the penalty they pay the Government.

"It's completely unfair," Cllr Wright said. "Every council has the problem of landfill tax which is going to get worse.

"I suppose every council is trying its best to cut down whatever they need to pay, so if a council can shift some over to somebody else then it's better for them."

A Croydon Council spokesman said: "Croydon doesn't routinely check on the home address of people using our waste-disposal and recycling facilities, although this practice has been adopted by some other London boroughs."

Surrey County Council defends the ban as a cost-saving measure. A spokesman said: "It costs Surrey taxpayers £500,000 a year to deal with waste created by people living outside the county, so from Monday October 5 visitors to some of our recycling centres may be asked to prove they are a resident of Surrey.

"People who don't live in the county will be redirected to their own authority site or they may go to a Surrey site with a weighbridge and pay for their waste to be disposed of."

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