RESIDENTS on a street in Rhuddlan have told of their dismay regarding difficulties they have encountered since Denbighshire’s new waste collection system was implemented.
All 14 households on Pentre Lane have yet to have their weekly food waste and recycling collections on time since Denbighshire County Council (DCC)’s new system took effect on June 3.
On that day, the council introduced changes to recycling and waste collections, including new containers and weekly collections for recyclable materials, and the scrapping of the blue wheelie bin.
Since then, some residents have been required to separate their “dry” recycling using a new three-tier “Trolibocs”.
But the council has issued multiple apologies for residents across the county not having their bins collected on time since June 3.
READ MORE:
Denbighshire waste collection staff paid £179K in six weeks
Costs of the first weeks of Denbighshire's new waste system revealed
More than 15K complaints made since Denbighshire waste system started
Tom Rowley-Conwy, one of those living on Pentre Lane, said: “Since the rollout in June, DCC have failed to collect on the regular Friday (food waste and recycling) collection on every single occasion.
“We have reported this issue on numerous occasions to DCC through their website, phone, and even had local councillors email directly on our behalf.
“Even with this, we have only had two collections since June 1.
“The last collection on Pentre Lane was on August 1, and we now have food waste covered in maggots, while bins overflow and blow in the wind.”
Tom added that, because of the “haphazard” nature of waste collections, residents’ bins have to be kept on the roadside constantly, as they never know if or when the collection wagons will turn up.
He said that, even if his and his neighbours’ waste was collected today, he would only be “partially relieved”, and would still have “no faith” in their regular collections resuming on their scheduled day.
“It is as though we are not on any driver’s route, although DCC refuse to confirm this with me over the phone,” Tom said.
“More frustratingly, the Rhuddlan end of Pentre Lane is collected on a Tuesday, and while I understand the drivers aren't able to dictate their routes, it's disheartening to see a wagon only 200 metres from my house that won't collect my bins.
“DCC have refused to reply to my email to ask if Pentre Lane can be added to the Tuesday route, nor have they got back to me to guarantee a reimbursement if I was to arrange a private waste collection.”
Another Pentre Lane resident, Dee Jenner, labelled the new system “chaos”, and said the changes it has caused have proved “immense”.
She said: “The original system worked really well. In my view, if it isn't broken, you don't need to fix it.
“We are now expected to sort the recycling into the respective containers, which are too small for the purpose and were doubtless expensive to produce.
“Having done all of that, for them not to be collected just adds insult to injury. We pay a sizeable council tax and get little or nothing for our money.
“I was further annoyed having spent time sorting the waste, to find the wagon used to collect, on the odd occasion they bothered to turn up, did not have corresponding compartments, so the waste was mixed as it used to be.
“We have been largely ignored.”
Martin Bailey, who also lives on Pentre Lane, added: “We were previously on the 'bag' system, as the wheelie-bin lorry wouldn't come down our track.
“So, we'd fill the relevant bags and leave them at our gate near the house for collection by the small mesh-sided truck.
“According to the DCC website, those of us on the 'bag' system shouldn't have been affected by the changes, as they shouldn't apply to us.
“Nonetheless, a Trolibocs appeared at our gate one day, with no warning or instructions, and we put it by our gate with our bags for the next collection, which never came.
“We're still, of course, paying for refuse collections via our council tax, so we're obviously not very happy that we're not getting what we're paying for.”
In response, DCC said it is continuing to closely monitor the rollout of the new waste and recycling collection service for residential properties, and have implemented a number of measures to help mitigate multiple missed collections.
Measures that have been implemented include bringing in additional vehicles and staff, arranging extra shifts including on Saturdays, and temporarily redeploying staff from other council services.
A DCC spokesperson said: “We are seeing the difficulties ease as the temporary measures set out above have taken effect and the new service is becoming more embedded.
“However, we are aware that there are still a number of residential properties who haven’t had collections on time and we are working towards addressing this as quickly as possible.
“In terms of this specific issue, we can assure the residents of these properties that we will be sending out a crew to these properties on Friday to assess and ultimately resolve this issue.
“We would like to thank all of our residents for the continuing efforts made by them to ensure that their recycling is sorted correctly and placed in the appropriate containers.
“These combined efforts continue to greatly improved the quality of the recycling materials collected in the county and this is really appreciated.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel