East Hampshire District Council has declared it will take action against individuals and organisations that use council car parks to keep waste bins without permission.
The council says that many of its many car parks around East Hampshire, contain unlicensed waste bins owned by local businesses.
Cllr Tony Costigan, Portfolio Holder for Property, said: “Large industrial bins take up space for cars and for pedestrians, they encourage pests and they mean large lorries must manoeuvre around the car park to empty them, contributing to surface degradation that must be fixed at a cost to the taxpayer.
“This land is owned by the council, and it is not fair to use it for your own purposes. You wouldn’t keep your household bin on someone else’s land and it’s the same with the council’s car parks.
“We have been in touch with businesses around the district that keep their refuse bins in our car parks without permission and if we cannot persuade them to move their bins we will take them away ourselves.”
The council has been contacting businesses, requesting them to move their bins and providing support to find more suitable alternatives where possible.
If that does not succeed, the council will remove the waste bins from its car park and dispose of it.
Although EHDC is responsible for collecting refuse and recycling from people’s homes, commercial waste is collected by private organisations through a contract with each business.
Any businesses that would like to talk to EHDC about waste bins contact the Environmental Services team at ehdcenvironmentalservices@easthants.gov.uk