THE Daily Echo's challenge to councils to clean up their acts and sort out the chaos over the area's waste sites has been taken up by the Borough of Poole.

The council is inviting Dorset and Bournemouth councils to a meeting in recognition of residents' growing concerns about the disposal of waste.

As reported in the Echo, waste sites have been demanding ID so that only residents of Poole or Bournemouth can gain entry. Staff have been subjected to abuse, long queues have been reported and rubbish has been dumped illegally.

Councils say they were responding to strict government measures on the amount of waste that can go to landfill from April 2005, which will mean fines at the rate of £200 per tonne if they are exceeded.

"In Poole we believe we are doing all we can to tackle the disposal of our residents' waste as a result of government targets," said Cllr Don Collier, cabinet portfolio holder for the environment. "However we recognise that those living close to the border of Poole or who perhaps work in one area and live in another have found some inconvenience in how they dispose of their waste.

"With that in mind we've asked our officers to meet with those in Dorset and Bourne-mouth to look at the issues."

Poole is a national and local leader in recycling, boasting a tenfold increase since it introduced its new blue bin doorstep collection.

Peter Pawlowski, head of Poole's environmental and con-sumer protection services, said: "The government has placed the burden of waste disposal on local authorities but at the same time laid down a minefield of red tape and bureaucracy on how it can be done. We are willing to work with our neighbours to try and resolve a way round this for residents of all three authorities."

First published: Sept 30