RESIDENTS in North Yorkshire are to be charged for disposing of hardcore and rubble at council-run recycling centres.

North Yorkshire County Council aims to save £330,000 a year by charging for taking the waste at its 20 recycling sites, as part of a drive to save £170 million by 2020.

The authority, which has provided the service free since 1992, said it regretted having to charge £2.50 per 25kg bag of rubble, but was implementing the fees to preserve other services, many of which it must legally provide. It said it did not envisage fly-tipping problems as a result of the policy change.

Charges are being introduced from August 4 and will see contractors Kier and Yorwaste weighing materials ranging from ceramics, such as sinks, to sand, soil and window glass. Restrictions on the amount of rubble customers can bring onto sites is to be lifted.

At the same time, the authority will extend the number of household waste sites that take commercial waste.