Grobiņa closes three recycling points after repeated misuse

South Kurzeme Municipality is closing three public recycling points in Grobiņa this week after residents repeatedly put unsorted rubbish in the containers or left waste beside them, LSM reports. The municipality has paid more than 1,500 euros in fines over the past year because of incorrect sorting.

The points on Kalēju, Sarmas and Alejas streets will be shut. The municipality plans to encourage residents to request free recycling bins for their homes, so fines for improper sorting can be directed at the people responsible.

At the Alejas Street point on Monday, containers for cardboard, plastic and metal, as well as bins for glass, were still in place despite a closure notice. A warning sign said waste must not be left beside the containers. A thermos and other rubbish lay nearby, and the sign was partly obscured by branches, apples and bags of waste.

One local resident told Latvian Radio she was sorry the point was closing because she lived nearby and regularly brought sorted waste there. A young woman who lives in an apartment building said she did not sort her rubbish, arguing that other people put mixed waste in the recycling bins. She also said her family sometimes burned cardboard in the countryside.

The municipality says the closure follows careless or deliberate misuse of the public recycling points. It wants residents to have sorting bins at their homes so that people who sort waste correctly are not penalised for others’ actions.