A SERVICE to help schools across Furness recycle scrap paper is to be removed from September when a key council contract is tendered out.

South Lakeland District Council provides a recycling bin to a number of schools across Furness, including Ulverston Victoria High School, Sir John Barrow School, in Ulverston, Low Furness Primary School and Pennington Church of England School.

But council chiefs at SLDC will withdraw the service when they reprofile their recycling contract for 'bring sites' later this year after bosses decided paper from schools should be classed as commercial waste.

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In a report on the matter to members of the authority's cabinet committee, they state: "The council currently provides paper banks at some schools within the district for the school’s use.

"It is considered that these services actually fall within the definition of commercial waste services and therefore that they be removed from the contract."

It is hoped another firm will step in to provide the service to the schools in question as part of Cumbria County Council-operated waste management contracts.

It is not yet known whether schools may incur a charge for this.

A spokesman for SLDC said the paper recycling service was provided only to some schools in the district as part of an unofficial agreement.

"The council is keen to ensure the schools in question find a commercial waste service they are happy with to begin in September," he added.

"It is not a service that has been provided to every school in the district - just 14 have received the paper recycling service as part of a legacy arrangement.

"But the councillors feel they should no longer do this within the new contract because it falls within commercial waste."

The terms of the contract are being redrawn to reflect SLDC's fortnightly kerbside recycling collection service which now covers 96 per cent of all homes within its boundaries.

Glass, tins, paper, cardboard, plastic and green waste are all picked up from properties on alternate weeks.

Other recycling services set to be withdrawn from the new contract include a small number of hotels, including the Whitewater, at Newby Bridge, and privately-owned caravan parks such as Black Beck Caravan Park, at Bouth, near Ulverston, and Park Cliffe Caravan Park, near Windermere.

The authority will also stop providing recycling points at refuse sites - run by the county council - after stating there is a often a doubling up of provision at these locations.

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