A councillor is calling for action after a village bottle bank was left with a mountain of glass next to it following the Millennium celebrations.

More than 50 bags and boxes containing hundreds of bottles were left piled on the ground after the banks for green and brown glass in Baildon's Ian Clough Hall car park were filled to bursting by "green" revellers recycling their festive champagne, wine and beer bottles.

Within two hours of the Telegraph & Argus contacting Bradford Council about the problem, the excess bottles - a handful of which were broken - were collected from the site by council workers. And the firm which collects the glass says it will make sure the banks are emptied by today.

Councillor John Cole (Lib Dem, Baildon) said: "I'm 100 per cent behind recycling but it needs following through to make sure it works all the time. The Council gets two cheers for the job it's done with household waste over the holidays and for picking up the excess bottles - it'll get the third when it gets on to the back of the private contractor responsible for emptying the bottle banks to make sure it performs as well.

"The piling up of bottles around the Christmas and Millennium holidays could have been anticipated.

"I reported the same problem in the summer when the bins got over full - spare bottles were left by the bins and there was broken glass on the ground which is a safety hazard - and things were improved.

"I welcome the fact that people seem to be recycling to a greater extent and wouldn't want them to be discouraged from recycling by a bit of mess round the bins.''

Ron England, environmental manager for Barnsley-based Glass Recycling (UK) Ltd which collects bottles across the region, said the Baildon banks would be emptied by today.

He said the company's fleet of 16 vehicles had been operating every day through the holidays in anticipation of the extra workload created by the Millennium celebrations with the Baildon bins last emptied last week.

He added: "We normally collect one-and-a-half times more glass in January than in a normal month and this year it will probably be twice as much because of the Millennium. Bottle banks across the north of England have been filling up really quickly but while people have been at home emptying bottles, our lorry drivers have been out there making collections.

"Bins have been emptied over the holiday and then filled up again by the sheer volume of material being deposited.''

Councillor Keith Thomson (Lab, Wibsey), who is responsible for Bradford's waste management services, said he was not aware of problems at the district's other bottle banks.

A Council spokesman said: "Glass bottle banks are not the Council's responsibility but are looked after by a private firm and we will be passing the information on to them. Bottle banks do fill up more quickly at this time of year and it could take some time to catch up."

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