THE RECYLING point will not be returning to Old Town’s Prospect Place car park, parish councillors have heard.

However, council officers say that recycling of TetraPak cartons “should be” look at as part of the borough’s upcoming waste strategy.

Some Old Town residents are likely to be unimpressed at the moves. However, Eastcott parish councillor Paul Dixon said people were “getting used to” the recycling points not being at Prospect Place: “It’s just been so long. That was the disappointment.”

Often used to store milk, fruits and soups, TetraPak claims its cartons are collected for recycling by 92 per cent of UK councils. However, according to the firm’s website Swindon is not among them.

Residents used to be able to recycle them at a “bring site” in Prospect Place car park, off Victoria Road. However, this was removed early last year.

At a meeting of South Swindon Parish Council’s planning committee chairman Barrie Thompson said he thought it was “very unlikely” that Old Town would see the TetraPak recycling points return.

Coun Nadine Watts said that the shadow parish council had expressed at interest before it was created to bring back the “bring sites” – “particularly the one in Prospect Place”. But the borough had not passed the facility on to the parish, councillors said.

An email from the borough council’s depot operations officer Ian James to the parish council suggested that it wouldn’t be cost-effective to reintroduce TetraPak recycling.

He told councillors: “We no longer operate bring sites as there is a comprehensive kerbside recycling service.

“Operating within the infrastructure and resources available at this time we focus on the largest volume materials, cartons by comparison are quite a low percentage of the overall waste stream.

“The cost versus the amount of materials collected isn’t viable at this time as an ‘add on’ service.”

However, he said that borough officers “should be” looking at TetraPak recycling as part of an upcoming waste strategy: “[It] should be assessed for future viability.”