Recycling frustration for resident

THE cardboard has been flattened, plastic has been removed and it will fit in the recycling lorry – but the bin men won’t take it because it is not in the right black box.

Sound familiar? Well one resident on a housing estate in Bridgend was so angry and exasperated that her recycling was not being taken, she took a video of her exchange with the refuse collectors and put it online.

She claimed that she has ordered the black boxes on three separate occasions, but after they failed to turn up she put the flattened down cardboard out for collection.

When the bin men wouldn’t put it in the back of their lorry, she took matters into her own hands and put it in herself.

But council officials at Bridgend say it needed to be torn into smaller pieces and put in the black box otherwise it would “slow down” collections.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said: “They keep telling us we need to recycle more, but it is not made easy. It is only going to get worse when we are restricted to two black bags a fortnight.

“I have called three times to have the black box delivered but it hasn’t turned up, so I put it out. It had been flattened and all the plastic was taken off it.”

A spokesman for Brid- gend council said: “In the footage, the resident refers several times to the pile of large cardboard as having been flattened, but it needs to be torn into smaller pieces that can fit inside the black box. This is important because the crew will cover up to 1,200 addresses on a single round. Large items that have not been broken down also risk causing blockages within the vehicle.

“In addition, the footage highlights that plastic and cardboard have been mixed inside one of the black boxes. Items need to be placed within the correct containers so materials can be kept separate as this avoids entire loads from being rejected at the recycling plant.”