Cornish Guardian (St. Austell & Fowey)
Residents express anger over failed rubbish collections
HUGE tip queues, failed rubbish collections and dozens of dumped bin bags are plaguing a town after the introduction of a new fortnightly waste collection regime.
Residents of Newquay have spent as long as 45 minutes in queues for the Suez recycling centre on Trevenson Road, and many have recorded the ordeal and sharing it on social media.
One passerby recorded dozens of stationary cars waiting to get in – or pass – the dump, with traffic lights for a nearby development said to be “wreaking havoc” too.
Others have criticised those resorting to fly-tipping, saying they can’t be bothered to brave the queues or simply recycle like they should.
Newquay was among the first places in Cornwall where a new fortnightly domestic rubbish collection system was introduced in January.
Households can now only have one wheelie bin or seagull-proof bag of rubbish collected every fortnight – meaning any extra non-recyclable waste has to be taken to the tip.
While Cornwall Council says the rollout has been very successful overall, residents are blaming it for problems with fly-tipping, many saying their rubbish doesn’t even get collected in some weeks. In one incident, someone dumped a load of rubbish only a few steps from a household waste site.
Among the reactions to the situation at Newquay’s household waste site on social media people have called it embarrassing and said the queues on the busy road are not only annoying but dangerous.
One resident said they queued for 33 minutes to get into the tip, which is on Trevenson Road.
Bob Brown said he was entering a third week without his rubbish having been collected, which had forced him to take matters into his own hands.
“It’s obviously a huge problem, as on a working weekday the queue for the local tip is a mile long,” he said.
“Do the council ever take note these things?”
Debz Hartnett shared an image of a large amount of rubbish which had been dumped outside the household waste site last month.
She said the queues were a nightmare but it was no excuse for fly-tipping right outside.
Mark Jardine said: “How did the council not foresee this with the ridiculously tiny wheelie bins only being collected fortnightly and not doing anything about the insane queues for the tip or any solution for people without transport?”
Others said they expected to see more fly-tipping because of the new bin rules and issues with the fortnightly bins not even being collected. Then, when they were picked up, the workers would only empty wheelie bins which not were of
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The service is not fit for use. Stickers on bins because there are three bags in the black bin and the lid is not closed properly
overflowing.
Generally, only three full bin bags fitted in each wheelie bin.
“What do people expect?,” asked Maxine Baines. “The service is not fit for use. Stickers on bins because there are three bags in the black bin and the lid is not closed properly, so no rubbish collected and wait another two weeks and guess what?
“Six bags now and Biffa [the council’s contractor] won’t take them. It’s only going to get worse.”
Liam-john Edwards said: “I’m not condoning it in any way, shape, or form but maybe if the council actually collected the rubbish we pay them to collect instead of sticking stupid labels on the bags and making stupid rules it wouldn’t happen.”
Cornwall Council and Suez been contacted for comment. have