A waste disposal service which has been running for the past 30 years in a town will be stopped.

On Tuesday, North Hertfordshire District Council’s (NHDC) Cabinet agreed to stop providing a Sunday disposal facility for residents’ waste at Bury Mead Road in Hitchin from September 30.

The existing arrangement for residents to dispose of their household waste at the site on a Sunday was part of the lease for the site, when waste was sent to landfill and there was not any landfill tax.

The site is due to be re-let from October this year but the introduction of landfill tax and a focus on recycling means that the Sunday disposal service is no longer considered to be financially or environmentally sustainable by councillors.

The primary function of the Bury Mead Road site is for NHDC’s refuse trucks to tip their waste during the week, to then be transferred to a landfill site outside of the district under a Hertfordshire County Council contract.

Residents in Hitchin will now have to use either Letchworth GC or the Stevenage Household Waste Recycling Centres.

Councillor Judi Billing, who represents the Hitchin Bearton ward, said: “I am very sad to see this service go. I have used it often but I, like others, will have to go to Letchworth GC or Stevenage to recycle now. Both will become busier, which is a bit of a worry.”

The facilities in Letchworth GC and Stevenage are open on Sundays and offer facilities for sorting and recycling of waste.

Cllr Peter Burt, NHDC’s portfolio holder for waste and recycling said: “The decision to close Bury Mead Road for disposal of waste on a Sunday was not taken lightly, however to continue operating the service would have cost the council a significant amount of money a year which we felt was an unnecessary cost.”