Large piles of clothing were dumped on the floor of a supermarket recycling area in Kendal.

Images, shared this week by South Lakeland District Council, show vast amounts of clothing strewn across the ground at the recycling area situated at Morrisons.

“We had a report that a large quantity of clothing and other items had been fly-tipped in the recycling area at Morrisons in Kendal,” said a spokesman for SLDC.

“Some of the clothing had been put in the cardboard/glass/plastic recycling banks.”

Bin bags, a child’s toy push chair and several re-usable plastic shopping bags could also be seen mixed within the debris.

The items have now been removed and the council has urged the public to take their rubbish home or find alternative recycling centres if their usual banks are full.

“The items have now all been cleared from the area,” said the SLDC spokesman.

“If anyone is looking to recycle old textiles in charity clothing banks and they are full or not in use at this time, we would ask that they please take their textile recycling home or to a Cumbria County Council Household Waste Recycling Centre.

“Leaving it alongside the clothing bank like this is fly-tipping and even leaving it bagged up if the clothing bank is full is not a good idea, as if it gets wet it will be of no value to the charity.

“Putting clothing and other items in with sorted recycling in the cardboard/glass/plastic recycling banks risks contaminating the whole load, which means it could not be recycled and would instead end up in landfill.’’

The images have sparked much anger online, with Kendal residents baffled at the state the recycling area was left in by others.

A spokesman from Morrisons was unavailable for comment.