Rubbish tips in town often seem horrible (4)
I believe the answer is:
tosh
'rubbish' is the definition.
(both can mean nonsense)
'tips in town often seem horrible' is the wordplay.
'tips in' indicates taking the first letters (only the tips of the words).
The first letters of 'town often seem horrible' is 'TOSH'.
(Other definitions for tosh that I've seen before include "Baloney, twaddle" , "Boloney" , "garbage'" , "Intimate" , "Scottish chum" .)