By Philip Murray

AN EDZELL recycling group have been left staring at the possibility of a “devastating” bill of up to £1000 after someone dumped asbestos in their communal skip.

The Edzell Village Improvement Society (EVIS) runs its own recycling centre outwith Angus Council-run facilities dotted around the county.

Along with general fund-raising efforts, the long-running centre helps to generate much-needed income for the group’s many activities, which include general planting work throughout the village.

However, while running a privately-operated recycling facility helps to generate income for their improvement schemes, it can also leave EVIS liable to charges incurred in the waste’s disposal.

Normally this is off-loaded without cost to the group but, with the waste bill now possibly set to include a four-figure sum for the disposal of asbestos, the recycling committee could soon be left licking their wounds.

What’s more, with the group generating just £1700 from its recycling in the whole of last year, the potential £1000 hit in the wallet is something they can ill afford.

Recycling group chairman Ian Kinnear said, “The signs on site clearly state what is allowed to be dumped in the skips and what is not so I would appeal to folk to pay attention.

“We think the asbestos was dumped on April 25, sometime between 5pm and 8pm.

“The skip was removed by the council on the Saturday morning and they contacted us on the Monday to let us know.

“We can’t say what the cost is going to be but it isn’t going to be cheap, let’s put it like that.

“It could possibly cost us somewhere in the region of £1000 and the recycling doesn’t normally cost us anything. We could certainly do without this bill,” he added.

The asbestos in question was a sheet and a flue pipe which had broken in two. No effort had been made to hide the items in the skip, leading some to speculate that the person dumping it may not have realised what it was, or that it was a small DIY job and not commercial fly-tipping.

However, members of the group are at a loss as to where it came from or if there is more of the lethal material out there waiting to turn up.

Councillor Bob Myles has joined in calls for residents to pay closer attention to which materials can be handled by the facility, amid fears it could happen again.

He also hoped that a way could be found for EVIS to avoid such “excessive charges” for one person’s mistake.

“I wouldn’t want to criticise someone who dumped it, I hope, through ignorance rather than anything else, but I would urge folk who want to retain a skip in the village, and we all do, to please ensure that they dump appropriate waste only, so we don’t end up with a waste bill.”

Meanwhile, EVIS have urged anyone who has any information about the asbestos to get in touch.