WILLITON Landfill Site will be taking its last load of waste tomorrow (Monday) after 18years in the town.

The site has taken around 650,000 tonnes of household, papermill, local business and commercial waste since it opened on March 30 1990 and will close its gates for the final time at 3.30pm.

Landfill restoration work, which has been ongoing throughout the life of the site, will continue with the area ultimately returning to pasture and grazing land.

There will be ongoing environmental management and monitoring of the site and the Environment Agency will continue with routine inspections.

Viridor regional director, in charge of the site, Ken Pitcher, said: "The trend for both local authority and commercial and industrial waste producers is to reduce the reliance on landfill and increase levels of recycling, reusing and getting additional value from our resources.

"It is an end of an era here at Williton.

"We would like to thank the local residents and businesses of Williton and the surrounding area who have been very supportive during the operation of the site.

"The enthusiasm and dedication of the team working on the landfill site has been key to ensuring that the facility has had minimal impact on the local community."

The nearest Viridor managed sites will now be Taunton's Priorswood, or Walpole and Broadpath in Bridgewater.

Mr Pitcher added: "Williton landfill has played an important part in the management of waste in West Somerset over the past 18 years.

"We are working closely with all of our existing customers to ensure their waste management needs are met."

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