GREEN waste should be disposed of locally and not transported out of the district in lorries 'belching out diesel fumes', says a leading councillor. Councillor Mike Roe has spoken out about the way North Somerset Council deals with the garden waste people

GREEN waste should be disposed of locally and not transported out of the district in lorries 'belching out diesel fumes', says a leading councillor.Councillor Mike Roe has spoken out about the way North Somerset Council deals with the garden waste people put out for collection. Council contractor Viridor currently transports the green waste which has been collected outside people's front doors by another contractor to Hinton Organics in Keynsham near Bath to be dealt with.But Conservative Cllr Roe said: "People in Keynsham are up in arms at the volume of traffic carrying green waste."Also if we are getting rid of green waste, we should be doing it in an environmentally friendly way. It doesn't make much sense to have huge wagons belching out diesel fumes on 100 mile round trips."There are localised solutions available."In the short-term Viridor should be making sure North Somerset's waste isn't causing a problem. "We should also be looking at local options for recycling. It's really short-sighted if we are not doing that now."Liberal Democrat Deborah Yamanaka, the member of the council's executive responsible for waste, said: "When the Conservatives ran the council they didn't have a doorstep green waste collection so it went down to Devon with all the other waste. It's not going that far now."We are looking at sites for waste disposal with the other former Avon authorities. If you look at former Avon area as a whole the waste isn't going to be going too far."Viridor spokesman Dan Cooke said: "At the moment, the site in Keynsham is the nearest suitable place for green waste. The waste is always bulked up to minimise the number of lorry trips."Other options for the disposal of the waste are being investigated, as they always are.