YOUR PICTURE OF THE DAY
Taking the left fork... Freemans Wood Brookfoot, taken by Mike Halliwell.
The litter at the side of roads is utterly shocking
CALDERDALE streets look an absolute disgrace. To highlight how bad the problem is, in areas where I cycle everyday on my commute that would not have seen a spec of litter are now covered with plastic, tin, beer cans, take away boxes, coffee cups.
The litter at the side of the road, in hedgerows is utterly shocking. The problem has two obvious sources, the recycling and people throwing stuff out of cars.
There is a massive problem with fly tipping but I feel we can’t tackle that until we have clean streets and roads. I have set up a litter picking group with the students at school and once we clean an area the following week it is back looking a disgrace.
If it is not big bottles or cans it is lots of tiny bits of debris and microplastics just littering the paths and roads. If you look over a wall where animals are grazing you will find a carry bag just dumped with cans and takeaways. This is a massive problem. We had Hollywood filming here a couple of weeks ago, they must have wondered where they landed.
The Happy Valley crew must have thought they took a wrong turn and ended up in a different Calderdale from a few years ago!
I have heard reports that Calderdale has got rid of lots of litter picking jobs. I have heard that they are in a big dispute with Suez the company that collects our waste. Apparently, Suez makes millions of profit from recycling, if that is the case why is the council not collecting the waste themselves and putting the profit to good use?
The recycling system does not work in Calderdale. It is windy and exposed and people are not savvy enough to think about that when they are putting their waste out as they just want it collected.
Because of the recycling method it is getting blown into fields and rivers, making the situation worse. It would actually be better in the landfill than blowing around our streets, less chance of the waste going into the water system.
People must be so disillusioned with the country that more people are throwing it out of cars... or is the number of people that throw litter the same and it is just not getting picked up?
Recycling is a good idea if it actually gets from the house to the recycling centre.
I have been told previously to report the areas concerned but it is every single area that I pass through, with the odd break here or there.
Generally it is everywhere.
Lots of cans that are getting thrown out of cars seems to be alcohol which is very worrying, especially as a cycle commuter.
This is a massive problem that has many issues. But I would appreciate direct answers to these questions:
Are there plans to change the way recycling is collected because the current method clearly does not work?
Is there an ongoing dispute with Suez and when will this be resolved if this is the case?
Are there plans for a big clean up because if the place looks dirty it makes some elements of society think it is normal to drop more litter?
Are there plans to build up the collecting workforce to get on top of the situation?
Are there plans for promotional work to encourage people to do the right thing?
Are plans in place to try and catch more people that drop litter?
I have seen cameras on trial in other councils that can get the registration of a vehicle that drops something as small as a cigarette butt.
Does the council have a plan short and long to get the area back on the right track to be a place to be proud of once more? At the moment it is a very big embarrassment.
In an ideal world councils should not need to go around picking up after people. I can relate to that aspect. By going out with the students it is an endless, thankless task. But it is one that needs to be done and the way that our recycling is collected needs a big rethink for our area.
I would just like some answers to help me sleep at night knowing that in the near future things are going to look better which will have a big impact on how the people feel in Calderdale.
It might be the thing that changes people’s mindsets and makes them considerate once more.
Small things can have big knock on effects and to change something as big as cleaning up the area could have massive unexpected positive changes elsewhere.
I have set up a litter picking group with students and once we clean an area the following week it is back looking a disgrace. D JUGROOP
Access to cash in our community Sheridan Taylor, Rishworth
TODAY I’m writing to you to tell you that I’m concerned about my ability to access cash in my local community.
I am elderly and disabled. Living rurally I depend on cash machines for large and small amounts of money... like window cleaners, house cleaners and gardener. These days I do not keep much at home, as crime figures go up every year.
I rely completely on the local store as not even have access to a post office.