A WORRIED mum has hit out at the dangerous state of the main recycling bank next to the children’s play area at Newcastle Emlyn.

Cara Sanderson was horrified by the amount of broken glass and other rubbish strewn around the area in the Mart car park earlier this week.

“It was pretty horrendous,” said Cara. “I was waiting to pick up my eldest son from school and went to walk my baby son Jacob in the park.

“There were shards of glass everywhere and it’s so dangerous right in front of the play park. Luckily, I had big thick boots on and was able to scrape some of it away from the entrance.

“Someone, especially a child, could easily suffer a nasty injury. I am a theatre nurse and have seen horrendous injuries and I could not walk away and just leave it.”

She spoke to Carmarthenshire County Council who promised to send someone to clear up.

“It’s great that people want to recycle but when the bins are full they are just dumping stuff there rather than going back another day and that’s what is causing the problem,” added Cara.

“And it’s not just glass bottles. You can recycle small electrical items but there was a big electric fire dumped there as well.

“We are coming up to the Easter holidays and we don’t want visitors to see such a mess in our nice little town.”

The problem was further highlighted by the King George V Playing Fields committee, which has also complained to the county council.

A spokesman said: “Every week our volunteers have to remove waste, glass and broken electrical items from our children's park. Today there is a massive pile of household waste and electrical items at the base of the electricals container.

“Broken glass is all over the main thoroughfare from the car park into the park. We have commented about this previously and the situation is not improving.

“Please can we request the bins are sited away from our children's play area. They represent a hazard to our volunteers and children.”

Cllr Philip Hughes, executive board member for enforcement, said: “Leaving waste on the ground at a recycling site is classed as fly tipping and therefore a crime – there is plenty of signage at our recycling sites advising people of this.

“Our enforcement officers can serve people with a fixed penalty notice of up to £350 for fly tipping, even if it is a small amount of waste. Of course we would prefer that we didn’t have to issue fines and people had respect for their environment by properly disposing of their waste.

“But, when people have complete disregard for their environment, communities and fellow residents, we will not hesitate to issue fixed penalty notices.

“We have four recycling centres in the county, and more than 150 recycling banks, we also have a kerbside collection and can arrange to collect bulky items from households.

“It was only last month we held a waste amnesty at this location – there really isn’t any excuse to dump rubbish and expect someone else to clear it up.”