RESIDENTS in Ramsbottom are still living under the shadow of having a landfill site near their homes.

This is the stark warning from Ramsbottom Against Landfill (RALF) which is urging people to help lift the threat by recycling their waste. They want Ramsbottom to become a model recycling town.

Leading member of the protest group, Miss Sue Gregory explained: "RALF spent four years fighting the application by Biffa Waste Ltd at Shuttleworth. But the threat of living with the horror of a landfill site in the town has not gone away. It is up to us to prove that the town does not need landfill."

Bury Council and Lancashire County Council threw out an application to turn a disused part of Fletcher Bank Quarry in Shuttleworth into a dump for domestic and commercial waste for the next 15 years last March.

Following the decision, members of RALF promised they would work with council officers to increase recycling in the town and the rest of the borough which, they believe, would eliminate the threat of landfill. The group has put together a comprehensive Discussion Document on Recycling in Ramsbottom for local people.

Miss Gregory said: "We now have to take responsibility for our rubbish. We cannot and should not expect other towns to deal with the waste we generate."

She added: "By recycling and cutting down on our waste, we take away the need for a landfill site. We want Ramsbottom to become a model recycling town and an example to other towns. This is by far the strongest argument against landfill. Why site a dump in a town that doesn't generate a lot of waste?"

Although RALF has criticised Bury Council's recycling initiatives as not going "far enough", members are encouraging local people to make use of them.

"Parts of Ramsbottom, particularly the parts that would be most affected by landfill such as Peel Brow, have not been included in the doorstep collections. RALF feels that doorstep collections are the best way to encourage people to recycle. However, we will continue to keep the pressure on the council to expand the collections and improve recycling initiatives. In the meantime this is better than nothing and we would urge everyone to use the facilities," said Miss Gregory.

She said that more advice on recycling household waste is available in their document which can be found in Ramsbottom Library.

A spokesman for Bury Council said that they were working closely with RALF and the initiatives they had in place were just the start of a larger scheme.