A RESIDENT in Germansweek claimed this week that recyclng lorries working on behalf of West Devon Borough Council are leaving a trail of litter behind as they go around their weekly collection.

Sam Hackett from Germansweek claims the litter is regularly left behind around the Germansweek/Roadford Lake bridge area by lorries operated by FOCSA, who operate the contract on behalf of West Devon Borough Council's recycling lorry.

He told the Times: 'This has been going on for 12 months and local residents have reported it to West Devon Borough Council. Some of the newspaper and other sheets of paper that are dropped get blown into the reservoir — this is surely not healthy as well as being unsightly in an area of the county where there is hardly any litter, apart from this weekly litter trail.

'Among some of the papers that have been dropped from the recycling lorry have been letters of local residents, which contain personal details.

'West Devon Borough Council has been informed for several months and are 'monitoring' the situation — but they are not stopping it or clearing up the mess.'

Mr Hackett reminded the council that under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 it is a criminal offence for people carelessly to discard litter in any open place and could be liable to a maximum fine of £2,500.

West Devon Borough Council confirmed that it has had complaints from people in the Germansweek and Eworthy area and is actively trying to clean up any problem.

Their crews have been advised to close the stillages at the rear of the recycling vehicles when travelling distances.

A spokesperson for the council said: 'Our monitoring officer has been out looking out for offenders in the past six weeks. Lez Parker, from our environmental services, has been there herself four times and has not witnessed any recycling on the roadside as yet.

'She has also been out on a couple occasions with a FOCSA supervisor (from the recycling contractor) on a couple of occasions in January. We are aware of the problem.

'We do appreciate people letting us know about this problem and assure them are actively monitoring the situation.'