PEOPLE who went along to the household waste recycling centre in Chard on Tuesday and Wednesday would have found it closed.

The changes came into force with the implementation of new opening hours for recycling centres across Somerset.

But the decision to close the centre at Beeching Close for two days a week has angered some – the facility only opened 14 months ago at a cost of £1.2m.

Plans for a new waste facility for the town were first proposed over five years ago after the tip at Chaffcombe was deemed unsuitable to meet Somerset County Council’s recycling targets.

But with it now being closed on two days during the week and only open at weekends from 8am to 4pm on Saturday and 8am to 1pm on Sunday, some people fear it could lead to an increase in fly-tipping. Other recycling centres in South Somerset at Yeovil and Somerton are also closed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

People will have to pay a £1.20 fee to use the facility at the Blacknell Lane In-dustrial Estate in Crewkerne, although that will be closed on Thursday and Fri-day.

A spokesman for the Somerset Waste Partnership, which looks after the recycling centres on behalf of the county council, said: “These new changes to opening hours have come about to make savings needed by the county council.”

He added that ‘other options’ were available for people to recycle, including kerbside garden waste facilities and other recycling collections. “We will be opening from 8am, so people can drop stuff off on their way into work.”