A COUNTY Gazette reader says it can now cost more to throw something away than it does to buy something.

Matthew Davis, of Arnold Close, Taunton, took an old 18inches square paving slab to Priorswood recycling centre last Friday and was told it would cost him £2.90 to dump.

As reported, Somerset Waste Partnership, which runs the recycling centres in the county, has introduced charges for some types of rubbish and has cut opening hours at all the sites.

Mr Davis said: “I had replaced the slab, which cost me £2.40. I was told to drive out of the tip, turn around and come back to the hut at the top of the ramp and go and pay.

“So what I did was drive straight back home, broke it up and put it in my wheelie bin.

“It now costs more to dump something than it does to buy it.

“I couldn’t believe it. When the man at the skip said ‘have you paid to dump that’, I said ‘yes, in my council tax’.”

The County Gazette was also contacted by a reader who reckoned disposing of a 70p cereal bowl would also incur the same £2.90 hard core charge, but a spokesman for SPW said it wouldn’t as it was classed as household waste, whereas the slab fell into the hardcore category.

The spokesman advised anyone with queries or concerns about charges to contact a manager at the site.