A DORSET village hall has had to pay for the removal of newspapers and magazines which had been donated for recycling.

They were being collected by residents to raise funds for the hall – but can no longer be recycled.

Parish council chairman Andrew Brewer says the experience leads him to conclude that much of the recycling taking place in Dorset, is not recycling at all.

He described the current situations as "a joke in rather poor taste."

Over the years the paper recycling project at Crossways, to the east of Dorchester, has raised thousands of pounds – initially for the village Scout group and more recently for the village hall.

The project had been financially supported by a council grant which, several years ago, was reduced, making the recycling no longer viable.

Organiser Andrew Brewer, who for many years took in the paper at an outbuilding at his home, said that in December the waste paper merchant said they were no longer able to collect with immediate effect.

"Since then the Village Hall have tried to find another merchant to collect the two tonnes they had collected thinking that there was a possibility that the situation would improve and there would be a demand for newspaper and magazines once again. They have literally contacted everybody that could be thought of an nobody was interested or wanted to charge for its collection.

"Last week, the Village Hall had to pay a contractor for the removal of the paper and magazines from the garage where they were stored. 

"They had to make the truly heart-breaking decision to stop collecting. They had always thought that schemes like this, not only benefitted charity but was doing our bit to save the planet. It now seems, this is not the case and what was being collected, not only had no marketable value but was also not being recycled," said Mr Brewer, the parish council chairman.

'It is hard not to think of recycling in Dorset as a joke and one in rather poor taste. Council tax bills advise that the county is well on the way to hit recycling targets and prides itself on the work that it does, and yet when you investigate it seems that materials collected are not being recycled at all. Even shredding the newspapers for animal bedding is not happening because of some concerns regarding the ink being used on the paper being harmful. For the merchants, the amount being received for a load was less than the fuel costs to transport it.

"Dorset Waste Partnership were unable or unwilling to help, even though what had been collected would have originally gone into the recycling bins for them to deal with. The quote for them to collect was greater than the sum the hall eventually ended up paying."

Mr Brewer says the organisers are now, sadly, asking people not to bring any further newspapers or magazines.

"In the meantime, plastic bottle tops are being collected although, at the moment, there is no cause taking them. Previously these have been donated to Julia's House, Somerset & Dorset Air Ambulance, Blood Bikes, a veteran's charity and more recently through NatWest to a children's charity. It seems inconceivable that this too may go the same way as the newspapers although the hall never made any money from the bottle tops.

"The organisers of the scheme wish to say a huge thank you for all the support and help that they have received over nearly 40 years collecting and processing the material."

In January Dorset Council said that, at the time it was costing £1.1m a year to process Dry Mixed Recycling (the items which go into the green lidded bin) although the council received an income of £366,000 for the glass and £25,000 for others materials.

A council spokesman said: "This is due to global recycling market prices for these waste materials, which change monthly. It's vital to note that it's still significantly cheaper to process dry mixed recycling this way than to treat it as black bin rubbish."