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...
