Shropshire Council will axe 120 recycling banks in a bid to save £270,000.

The council’s Cabinet will decide on the plans at a meeting next week, but the authority says the decision will deliver much needed savings.

The sites to close will be the “bring bank” sites which have bins for glass, cans, newspapers and textiles among others.

In Whitchurch there are banks at White Lion Meadow, Brownlow Street car park, Sainsbury’s London Road; while others are in Tilstock, Church Street in Prees, Wem, Ellesmere’s Tesco, and Criftins Parish Hall.

Mark Barrow, the council’s director of place, said the benefits to the council outweigh the negatives.

He said: “Shropshire Council and Veolia currently provide bring banks at 120 sites across Shropshire. The council is proposing to remove the bring bank sites to generate a saving of £237,000.

“As part of the council’s package of measures to establish a balanced budget for 2019/20 savings need to be made within the overall waste and recycling service area.“This proposal supports this aim by making savings while minimising the impact on the overall service. There are established alternatives for householders in terms of kerbside recycling collections which offer environmental benefits over the bring bank system, and alternative charity and commercial bring bank services for textiles.”

“Thus, this only refers to Shropshire Council/Veolia bring banks.”

“It is recommended that cabinet approves the closure and removal of the Shropshire Council owned bring bank sites, the Waste PFI Contract with Veolia is amended accordingly, and the budget for this service is removed.”

Mr Barrow said the move will raise fears of fly-tipping and a drop in recycling rates.

But he added: “Main waste streams can be diverted to kerbside collection where quality control is higher, widespread availability of other banks and collections for textiles, eg charity bag collections.”

Mr Barrow added that the move would also increase the amount of parking spaces in the county.

He said 42 of the sites are based on car parks and the removal will see more spaces as a result.

Mr Barrow added: “The provision of glass, paper and metal bring banks at 120 sites across Shropshire is currently serviced through the council’s waste collection and disposal contract with Veolia at a cost of £237,000 per annum.

“Closure and removal of these Shropshire Council owned bring bank sites would result in a comparable annual saving, which would contribute to the total saving of £1.5m identified in the 2019/20 Financial Strategy for Waste Services.

“Implementation of the closure and removal of Shropshire Council owned bring bank sites could be achieved early in the 2019/20 financial year.

“The £237,000 full year saving is likely, therefore, to only be partially realised in 2019/20.

“For example, if the implementation date is June 1, 2019, then the saving identified will be around £198,000m.

“The first-year saving will be further mitigated by the £7,000 one-off cost to remove the bring banks.”

The council said 2,400 tonnes of waste is currently recycled from the banks.

The proposal will go before Cabinet members when they meet on Wednesday, March 20.