Andover residents have reacted with dismay after glass bottle banks were removed from the recycling centre.

Glass banks were taken away in late June from the town’s household waste recycling centre, located on Scott Close. Hampshire County Council (HCC), which runs the site, said that it was a cost saving measure after the service became “financially unsustainable”, but residents are unhappy with the change and the ‘lack of publicity’ given to it.

One resident, who didn’t want to be identified, said he had been surprised by the change, telling the Advertiser: “After booking a slot at the recycling centre and loading my bottles and jars into my car, we were in for a surprise. After carrying our bags around for a while, we found that the bottle bank containers are no longer there and the car had to be reloaded.

“Surely with a name that states it’s household waste recycling one would expect bottles and jars to be included!”

HCC made the decision to remove the glass banks in October, following a decision by the executive member for the environment, Councillor Rob Humby. Documents cite a fall in glass collection from over 3,600 tonnes in 2013/2014 to around 3,050 tonnes by 2019/2020, with the service ‘operating at a loss’ as a result.

One of the reasons given for this fall is that glass is now collected at the kerbside in many areas of Hampshire. However, Test Valley is not among them. While there are plans to recycle glass, cartons and thin plastics from home in the coming years, a concrete date is yet to be set, leaving Andover residents in the lurch for at least two more years.

Responding to the Advertiser’s request for comment, Cllr Humby said: “The decision to remove glass recycling banks from the county’s household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) was due to be implemented on April 1 2021 but was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“The volume of glass deposited at banks on HWRC sites has been decreasing steadily for some time and the cost of having those banks at our HWRCs now far outweighs the re-sale value of the glass.

“This means that the service is operating at loss and is therefore financially unsustainable, as well as taking up space which could be utilised for collecting recycled materials for which there are no alternative collection points.

“There is wide availability of glass banks across Hampshire – such as in supermarket car parks - and indications are that the kerbside glass collections will be seen across the county and nationally, in line with the Government’s Consistency in Collection policies.”

To find your nearest glass collection site following the change, visit: https://www.recyclenow.com/what-to-do-with/glass-0