Chair and bike among rubbish dumped in Swindon ASDA car park

ASDA shoppers in West Swindon were shocked to see household furniture left next to clothing donation bins in the car park on Wednesday, August 28.

It comes just a day after several bags of clothes were dumped next to the charity banks in the Ocotal Way Tesco car park.

One person took to social media to ask “is this a new dump yard” while others shared their shock and frustration over fly-tipping in the town, saying it was due to “pure laziness” and people no longer have pride in where they live.

Others suggested it comes due to the difficulty of booking a slot at the recycling centre and it would be much easier if people could just turn up to drop items off at their convenience.

The rubbish had been cleared by Thursday evening (Image: Newsquest)

Keep Swindon Tidy volunteer, Karen Leggett said: “People need to take responsibility for their own rubbish. Rubbish creates more rubbish because people see others leaving stuff there and think it must be alright, but these clothing bins are just a magnet for it.

“Sainsbury’s in Bridgemead got rid of the clothing banks because they had the same issue, but then that affects the charity shops. It’s a shame really because it’s a handful of people but they affect the whole town of Swindon.

“We have seen a definite increase in fly-tipping and I don’t know what’s causing it. I’ve seen people throw stuff in a bush and they tell me they don’t know where to put it and we tell them they can ring the council for a bin if they haven’t got one."

She said she has mentioned to a couple of councillors about having a communal waste collection point.

She continued: “A lot of the rubbish dumped could have been recycled. If you can take it to ASDA, it’s just as easy to take it to the charity shops inside the centre, so that needs to be advertised a bit more.

“Even on Facebook Marketplace, you can sell things or give them away for free and you know it goes to a good home and not to landfill. It is really frustrating and there are hotspots for it.”

She added that Swindon Borough Council can sometimes find an address linked to waste and fine the person responsible if it has been left in a public place, but as the ASDA car park is private property, they would most likely hire someone to dispose of the rubbish at their own expense without penalising the culprits.

“It’s an easy place to dump it; people don’t feel so guilty and the clothing banks are there to be filled. But if you put it by the side of the bin it’s no good, it needs to be in the bin. When the clothes get wet they are no good to the charity and at that point if it’s been dumped on the ground it’s classed as fly-tipping," Karen explained.

“The stuff we find we move to a parish bin and they are brilliant and they will take it if we leave it there. You wouldn’t believe the stuff we find and there’s usually nothing wrong with it.”