PEOPLE living in Bridgnorth and Morville are the latest to round on the new area waste collection service. A Bernard’s Hill resident said that although collectors had picked up bags of recyclable rubbish on Monday, they had left the black bags of household waste behind.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said the bags had been accumulating after being left by people confused about the new fortnightly collection system
“There seems to be a lack of communication,” she said. “We have only had one explanation leaflet through the door and nobody has been to check if everyone understands.”
Meanwhile, a Morville man says that residents are faced with driving to the Barnsley Lane tip with bags of rubbish following the change in service. Collections of bags near the village are now made on a fortnightly basis by Veolia Environmental Services, instead of the previous weekly service.
The complaint about the new arrangements — which have also seen the collection date change from a Tuesday to a Wednesday — is the latest in a series of grumbles from local people.
“I contacted the Shropshire Waste Partnership about the changes and was told we had been notified by post, but we have heard nothing,” said the resident, who has asked to remain anonymous. “We only discovered what had happened when we left our bags out and they weren’t collected.
“We have no problems with access for a wheelie bin, yet we are getting sacks which can easily be got into by vermin.
“We will have to take the rubbish to the council depot ourselves or stick the bags out in the road — we haven’t the room in our houses to store the stuff. We have no street lighting, no mains sewage and the roads are appaling, so I don’t know what we pay our council taxes for.”
Veolia Environmental Services managing director Donald Macphail said that recyclable items, such as compostable waste, cardboard, paper, glass and cans were now collected one week and household waste the following week.
“Waste is still collected every week, so residents do not get a reduced service,” he said. “The service has been rolled out in the rest of the county and has been well received. Residents are advised to check their calendars so they are aware of what waste is collected on what days.
“Our target is to increase the amount of waste that is recycled from 43 per cent to 50 per cent by 2012 and massively reduce the amount of waste going to landfill to only five per cent by 2013,” he added. “This new service in Bridgnorth will help achieve those targets.”
Residents can phone 0845 678 9009 if they want more information or if their rubbish has not been collected.