‘Monthly bin pilot forcing families to burn rubbish’
Families are being forced to burn their rubbish in one of the first Welsh counties to introduce monthly waste collections.
People living in Conwy have spoken of their four-weekly collection “nightmare”.
While all the recycling, food waste and nappy bins are collected weekly, black bins are only taken once a month.
Residents, in particular those with children, say they have to beg older neighbours to take their waste, and even have to burn their rubbish to get rid of it, or tread down the rubbish in their wheelie bins to help make room for more waste.
Other areas are also moving to a longer spell between bin collections, including Anglesey, which will now see waste collections stretched to every three weeks.
Lee Morris, from Conwy, told the Daily Mail: “I end up taking bags of waste and cardboard to work, where we have a skip, that’s how bad it has got.
“We’ve also got a coal fire, so over Christmas we were putting stuff on that to get rid of it.”
The 44-year-old father of two added that he and his wife, Hannah, 31, had had bonfires in their garden to get rid of their waste.
Vicky Tanswell, 37, said she has to take black bags full of waste to a tip nine miles away because any bags that do not fit inside the bin are not taken away on collection days.
She said: “My black bin is full after two weeks. I have resigned myself to taking rubbish to the tip regularly now.
“I have a 14-month-old toddler and had requested a nappy bin, so that the nappies don’t fill up the black bin.
“A very nice council officer arrived, and he told me that the council didn’t have any nappy bins and his actual words were that my son would be out of nappies by the time they got some.
“I was given a yellow bin bag instead, but they are a bit flimsy. It is absolutely disgusting as it stinks.”
Welsh Conservative AM for Clwyd West Darren Millar has expressed his concern about the four-weekly bin collection, and said it is “only likely to lead to adverse public health consequences and foul smells.”
He said: “Four weeks is a long time for waste to be left, particularly in warmer weather.
“Worse still, if people miss a bin collection for some reason then waste could be sat in bins for up to eight weeks; it simply isn’t good enough.”
Writing on Twitter, a spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives said: “Monthly Conwy bin pilot has increased fly tipping, pest control problems and public health risks from pet waste.
“Conwy residents are ‘absolutely furious’ about the four week bin collections pilot.”
A spokeswoman for Conwy County Borough Council said: “Threeweekly refuse bin collections and a trial of four-weekly bin collections were introduced in Conwy from September.
“Recycling, food waste and nappies are collected every week. The move came after a study found that more than half the items placed in wheelie bins in the county should have been recycled – wasting £1.6m every year.
“The vast majority of waste from a family home is recyclable.
“Our weekly recycling collection service picks up glass bottles and jars, food and drink cans, aerosols, foil, paper, cardboard and card wraps and cartons, plastic bottles, plastic tubs and trays, drinks cartons, all food scraps, peelings, tea bags, used kitchen roll, other food waste and nappies.
“If residents have piles of extra bin bags that won’t fit in their bin, as part of the trial we visit households on an individual basis to find out what is in them and how we can help.”