What next for rubbish collection?
August 5, 2009Councillors across the Borough have received a lot of comments over the past few months about the new bin system. It seems to have gone down quite well. Great. But what next?
A scattering of thoughts:
Some people would like their green recycling bins emptied weekly.
Some people would like brown bins for garden waste as some properties still don’t have them. One resident suggested to me that food waste should instead go in the bin with garden waste, collected weekly, and the grey bin should be collected less often.
The Council are going to be reviewing the system shortly to see what works, what doesn’t and what can be done differently.
My aims would be: good service, value for money, a weekly collection for products that smell, reduction of waste being sent to landfill.
I don’t have a monopoly on good ideas so i’m throwing it open – how would you next improve the waste collection service?
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Mike
I’m all for weekly collections. People in Chuckery are always confused about which week and days the brown and green bins are being collected – it a constant source of stress – particularly for older people who may have to ask a neighbour for help with their bin.
Despite what they say, the Council regularly fail to honour special arrangements on our street with elderly residents to collect their bin from around the back because they can’t wheel them out themselves.
A bigger gripe I have is the way in which the road is left in a complete state of chaos after the binmen have left.
We are requested to present our waste in an ordered fashion, sorted, lid closed, handles facing out. But the binmen leave the emptied bins everywhere, often getting neighbours bins mixed up, as hazards in the pavement for mums with prams, blind and elderly residents on our small Chuckery streets. It is very frustrating.
Here’s a suggestion for a bit of advanced planning. The time of the year which generates most waste is the Christmas and New Year holiday period. Why can’t the Council provide a normal bin service during this time? Many other people have jobs which involve working over the holiday – so why can’t the binmen have such a system?
That all said, the new recycling arrangements are a huge improvement on the previous system. It is very satisfying to know that so much of our household waste is being recycled (except of course when the Moxley recycling plant goes up in smoke in an arson attack).
Regards
Mark
I had the same problem when living in Chuckery but now we are in Willenhall there is no problem at all. It must be something to do with the crew.
Regarding service developments it would be helpful if all bins were colected either weekly or fortnightly – or at least to have them on the same day of the week.
When I worked in North Wales the council I worked for introduced and advertised a free bulky service. The costs were cheaper than picking up fly tipped stuff. And, the regeneration project I headed organised skip days which further reduced fly tipping.
The Civic Amenity site at Leamington Spa has a donate to charity zone at which members of the public can deliver stuff that they were going to skip. The charity concerned refurbish and sell what comes in. It just so happens that I now head a charity that would be delighted to talk with WMBC about doing such a thing. Will the conversation start? An initial discussion with a portfolio holder may help. The scheme reduces landfill; provides supported employment for people and some income for community benefit.
Mike
Another comment from Chuckery. Having spoken to the crews they appear to be under extreme pressure from lack of resources and poor supervision/ management within our/your council. This IMHO results in some of the service issues described in the previous comments. Councillor Mohammed Arif told me at a local meeting that the service needed another vehicle at a cost of some £70,000, so if this is already known by councillors then has that vehicle been bought or leased yet? I would like an answer to that question please Mike.
You now admit that some 25000 households in Walsall are NOT receiving a key part of the full services from the council i.e. BROWN BINs. I respect your openess in this Mike as for over three years now both officers and some existing councillors have NOT accepted any reponsibility for this poor level of service and just blamed each other. I believe that more needs to happen within Walsall Council than simply review the service there needs to be a fundamental and full review of the management/supervision of this entire service area. As a consumers of this very important service it is the least that we should expect and deserve. Thanks for taking the trouble to consult in this way and I hope you get some useful comments.
Over here in Walsall Wood the collection works fine as far as I’m concerned. The recycle bin is full after 2 weeks, the grey one hardly ever full. About the only issue is remembering if its recycle week or not.
I would like to see large item collection and ’skip days’ for free- make it really easy to dispose of rubbish properly, then introduce draconian punishments for flytipping.