FOOD retailers in Lyme are asking the town council to help them combat one of their major problems and help the environment in the process.

The traders say they are lumbered with piles of polystyrene boxes every week once their fresh goods are delivered and there is no easy way of getting rid of them.

But fishmonger Simon Bennett has discovered a hi-tech machine which compresses the polystyrene for easier disposal.

Mr Bennett, who owns the Old Watch House wet fish shop at the Cobb, said: “As one of many traders in Lyme, I have a problem with poly boxes.

“They do a great job insulating my fish but are a nightmare to dispose of because it all has to be broken up and stuffed in bins for landfill. You can’t recycle them.

“I am lucky that I can send some boxes back but others don’t do it so I’m left with 20 to 30 boxes a week in the summer.

“There is a new machine out that melts it down into a little brick which you can then sell back to the bio diesel company or poly box company.”

But there is one catch – the machine would cost £15,000.

“We need some help from the council,” said Mr Bennett. “We all get left with these poly boxes but how great would it be that in order to reduce landfill, we could have this machine sponsored by the council that we all use?”

Mr Bennett said he had initially spoken to Lyme Regis chef Mark Hix, who owns Hix Oyster and Fish House, about buying one together.

“There needs to be some sort of partnership between traders and the council and we could all chip in on the running costs,” said Mr Bennett. “There is no point one of us having a machine, we all need to use it.”

Mr Hix said: “Polystyrene is just impossible to crunch down without making a mess everywhere. It takes up a lot of room in the rubbish bags and melting it down would be better.

“The problem we have as well, which is connected to this, is we don’t get a daily collection. We have to deal with smelly, fishy boxes – being a fish restaurant – for a few days sometimes.”

Mr Bennett has sent a proposal to the town council and suggested the machine could be located in a town car park near the recycling bins.

Mr Bennett said the machine is quite small and does not require any man-hours or tending, and could actually earn the town council money by selling the compacted bricks back to the suppliers.