A consultation on the future of a recycling centres in Ceredigion has drawn more than 1,200 responses.

Ceredigion County Council launched a public consultation following last year’s decision to close the Rhydeinon Household Waste Site near Llanarth and review the opening hours at the other sites in Cardigan, Aberystwyth and Lampeter.

The results of the consultation will be put before the Thriving Communities committee at Ceredigion County Council on Wednesday.

A report says: "Over 1,200 responses were received, highlighting strong opposition to the proposal, concerns about travel distance, fuel costs, fly tipping, and the impact on the Welsh language and on communities. Respondents

suggested alternatives such as reducing opening hours across all sites."

The report adds that 90 per cent of respondents to the closure of Rhydeinon said it would have a direct negative impact.

404 people mentioned the increased travel distance, with one quote reading: "It would mean a 40+ mile round trip to one of the other sites. This increases the time taken to at least 2 hours and making travel costs expensive more so in the current financial situation we all find we are in.”

Fly tipping concerns were raised 137 times, with one quote saying: “Closures will no doubt unfortunately result in fly tipping which is an eyesore in our beautiful county and will cost the council a fortune to tidy up.”

Three options will be put before the scrutiny committee on Wednesday and they will be asked to present their preferred option to senior councillors on the cabinet.

There are to either suspend the use of the Rhydeinon and to maintain the other centres with current opening hours; Defer a decision until the procurement exercise has been undertaken and assess costs and options, including possible reduced opening hours; or reverse the full council decision to close a centre and to maintain all four sites with current opening hours and temporarily fund the continuation of provision at Rhydeinon through grant funding.

The council has outlined savings of £100,000 to come from the budget of £1.5m used to operate the four sites.

The consultation contained the preferred option of closing Rhydeinon while keeping the other three open with the same opening hours.

Waste sites in Cilmaenllwyd, Glanyrafon and Lampeter are currently open every weekday from 9am to 5pm, and 10am to 3pm on weekends and Bank Holidays.

The site at Rhydeinon is currently open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm.

Consultation documents say that if Rhydeinon is closed, then opening hours would remain the same at Cilmaenllwyd, Glanyrafon and Lampeter.

When launching the consultation, the council said: “We feel that suspending use of Rhydeinon site and maintaining opening hours at the other sites would have the least amount of impact on residents.

“It is proposed to suspend use of the Rhydeinon Household Waste Site, until such time as the review of the council’s waste services is complete, and a longer-term strategy for the Council’s Household Waste Sites is developed.”