Council wardens ‘told to police people’s bins’
COMMUNITY safety wardens in Caerphilly say they have been told to police what residents put in their recycling bins as the council gets tough on compliance.
Wardens are being asked to help with house-to-house checks as soon as next week, the unions representing them said.
They say this will take them away from their important role tackling anti-social behaviour and have called on the council to change its plan.
Independent councillor Kevin Etheridge has tabled a motion saying asking for a full council debate on the matter.
Unison and GMB unions, representing community safety wardens, said policing recycling was not part of their duties.
“Elderly and vulnerable residents may be scared by the sudden appearance of a uniformed warden on their doorstep,” the unions warned.
Councils are getting tough on recycling compliance in the face of steep fines if they don’t hit Welsh Government-imposed targets. In June, Blaenau Gwent Council took an innocent woman to court after a neighbour dumped recyclable waste in her black wheelie bin.
Unison and GMB said they realise recycling is a key priority for Caerphilly and other councils but it “should not be at the cost of the safety and wellbeing of the workforce and the communities they serve”.
Making communities safer should be the sole focus of community safety wardens, they argued.
There are also concerns that wardens won’t be trained on what they need to do to police recycling and will instead attend an induction and be issued a script to use.
Unison’s branch secretary, Lianne Dallimore, said there hasn’t been enough publicity for residents about what is required for recycling and the proposals “are wrong on just about every count”.
She added: “You can’t police recycling if residents don’t know the rules to follow. Without this information it’s easy to imagine the fear it may cause or resistance it may generate from households.
“We’ve shown councillors evidence of the extent local people are worried about drug dealing and other antisocial behaviour in the borough.
“Community safety wardens are already working hard to make our communities safer. It doesn’t make sense to take them away from this essential work.”
GMB branch secretary Neil Funnell said: “The GMB union is disappointed to hear of the decision which has been made by the chief executive of Caerphilly council to use the community safety wardens to police the contaminated recycling bin issue throughout the communities of the council.
“This decision has been made after the joint trades unions have made repeated representation to the chief executive and other officers of the council raising the concerns of the unions and our members who work in the community safety wardens service.”
Cllr Etheridge, who represents the Blackwood ward, said he was not opposed to checking residents are complying with recycling rules but the job should be done by waste management teams and not community safety wardens.
He said the council faced fines of between £1m and £2m if it failed to reach Welsh Government recycling targets.
“There is quite a lot of antisocial behaviour in the borough and we call on the services of wardens to deal with that on a regular basis. To find out they are being told to check recycling bins is a major concern to me and will be to residents,” he said.
“They will go around streets checking bins when they should be dealing with anti-social behaviour.
“The chief executive has decided to do this under her delegated powers. But we need to employ more recycling staff – not use community safety wardens. The task needs to be done but not this way.” Responding to the claims, Caerphilly Council’s chief executive Christina Harrhy said: “Occasionally we require employees to undertake other duties as we respond to the changing needs of the council and the residents we serve. “The council has recently agreed a new waste route map to improve recycling rates and we now need to mobilise staff to ensure we deliver the objectives and priorities set out within the work programme. “The change being proposed is assistance from the community safety wardens over a temporary period of time while we recruit additional staff. “This will be kept under review via regular discussions with the community safety wardens and trade unions. “Importantly, this should not impact upon the duties the team currently undertake or have a detrimental impact upon our communities.”
The council said one wrong item in a recycling bin contaminates the whole process.
It “puts the whole load at risk of rejection” and has an impact on its recycling rate and the environment.
Residents in Caerphilly face a fourstep level of sanctions if they put the wrong items out for recycling.
Publishing the sanction steps on its website, the council states: “If we deem your bin to include contamination we will not empty the bin.
“The crew member will place a sticker on the bin highlighting the contaminant. You should remove the highlighted item before your next collection date.
“If the bin contains contaminants for a second week, we will not empty the bin.
“We will also send you a letter an information leaflet with more details about recycling at home.
“If the bin contains contaminants for a third week we will not empty your bin.
“A member of our waste team will attempt to visit your property. The purpose of this visit is to provide you with information, advice, and guidance.
“If we are unable to speak with you during this visit we will leave a second letter at your property. The letter will tell you that if the contaminants are not removed we will remove the bin from the property.
“If the bin contains contaminants for a fourth week we will remove the bin from the property.”
You can’t police recycling if residents don’t know the rules to follow...
Unison branch secretary, Lianne Dallimore