Swanage’S proposed £2 million household recycling centre could also cater for business waste, environment bosses have revealed.

Plans for the state-of-the-art centre, earmarked for the town’s Prospect Business Park, have been lodged with Dorset County Council planning chiefs.

But recycling bosses hope small and medium-sized businesses will be allowed to use the centre, alongside householders, for trade waste.

Swanage Town Hall held a public exhibition last November so residents could view plans and make comments on the centre.

County council environment spokesman Cllr Hilary Cox said: “We are currently working with our contractors to allow small to medium-sized businesses in and around Swanage to recycle their trade waste at the proposed site.

“If the planning application is successful, this will be one of the first household recycling centres in the country to do so.

“Thanks to all residents who visited our public exhibition and expressed their views on the new household recycling centre.

“The reaction to the proposed development has been very positive.”

The town’s current Panorama Road recycling facility will remain open until after the new centre is built – thanks in part to a wave of protest, including a 5,000-signature petition, that swept Swanage when the closure of this existing site was first mooted.

If the new site gets planning approval later this year, construction should start in the summer – with a view to it being completed by spring/summer 2010.

Cllr Cox said: “We are working to achieve a 60 per cent recycling rate in Dorset by 2015/16.

“The centre will provide a full range of recycling facilities for local people, and due to the size and layout of the site, it will allow us the flexibility to recycle more materials as the new markets develop.”