Regis Road Recycling Centre closed for re-think, following intimidation by solvent abusers

Published: 17 February 2011
by DAN CARRIER

A RECYCLING centre has been forced to temporarily close after a number of  incidents of intimidation involving solvent abusers taking chemicals from the site.

The Regis Road Recycling and Re-use Centre in Kentish Town had an area where residents could leave things they did not want but were perfectly useable – saving cash and reducing landfill.

But staff had noticed that vans were appearing regularly and furniture traders were bagging all the best bits. To make matters worse, the dump also has an area for toxic and harmful chemicals – and solvent abusers had taken to raiding the skip to get their next fix.

One member of staff said: “We saw people coming in and removing some quite dangerous things – and they were often the same people returning day after day. We put two and two together and realised they were doing it to get a fix.”

A spokesman for Camden Council said: “Unfortunately a small number of users have been abusing the service – intimidating volunteers and residents visiting by the centre or taking materials for re-sale. This has meant we have taken the decision to temporarily close the centre while we look at how to make the service more user-friendly and prevent abuse. We are still accepting items that can be reused from site users and these items are available for people to take, but for the time being the container itself is closed.”