The sheep section at this year's show

Mountains of rubbish from this year’s Royal Welsh Show will end up in landfill instead of being recycled because funding has been lost.

More than 20 tonnes of recycled waste was collected at the event from 2006 to 2008 thanks to a Welsh Assembly-funded scheme.

But the funding, which helped major shows and festivals cope with waste, ceased this year.

Organisers of the Royal Welsh admitted its recycling was not running “very efficiently”, with people putting the wrong waste in the wrong bins.

Last year the show had recycling bins at 10 locations as well as individual sets of bins around the show rings.

Welsh Assembly recycling project officer Ruth Llewell- yn said: “Show officials knew they would have to fund recycling themselves this year.

“They said they were not prepared to fund it this year. It’s been a frustrating 10 months waiting to hear what they were going to do.

“We are hugely disappointed. For the last three years the Welsh Assembly Government worked with the Royal Welsh Show over its recycling, but that’s been completely removed.”

Ms Llewellyn said in 2006 four tonnes of recyclable wa- ste was collected at the show, rising to seven tonnes in 2007 and 11 tonnes last year.

Royal Welsh Agricultural Society publicity officer Haydn Jones said the event had a recycling policy but it was not running “very efficiently”.

“We have been running it for a couple of years in conjunction with the Welsh Assembly Government, but there has been far too much contamination with people putting the wrong waste in the wrong bins,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter if you have coloured bins or put posters up, show visitors seem to deposit the waste in the wrong bins. This means the policy hasn’t been very effective and the contamination of the waste means we’ve normally had to send it all to landfill.”

Ms Llewellyn disputed this and said people at the show responded well to the recycling scheme.

Mr Jones said about 25 per cent of the show’s waste would be recycled this year.

By Anwen Evans