Families burn rubbish as EU fines force ailing UK councils to do monthly bin collections
FAMILIES are being told to burn their rubbish as an increasing number of hard-pressed British councils move to monthly bin collections.
Conwy resident blasts council over monthly bin collection
Some residents revealed they have are having to beg their older neighbours to take in their rubbish while others have having to stand inside wheelie bins to push down waste to make more room.
Conwy in north Wales is one of the first areas across the UK to have bin collections once every four weeks.
And other councils, including in Somerset, mid-Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, are planning to join it.
Related articles
Local authorities in Oldham, North Devon, several in Scotland and Anglesey in Wales are among others set to switch to three-week schedules.
European Union (EU) targets to recycle at least half of all household waste by 2020 are leaving councils scrambling to reach the target to avoid fines of up to half a million pounds a day.
And with pressure mounting on local authorities’ finances councils are attempting to save every penny they can, especially for social care.
Conwy’s residents have told of the misery the once a month collections are causing them, having to leave nappy bags outside their homes as special bins have not arrived.
About 10,000 homes in the area began a year-long trial in September of four-weekly collections, with a 240-litre wheelie bin for general waste collected once a month and three recycling bins, a food waste bin and a large one for those with babies collected weekly.
Council binmen disciplined for 'stealing' man's bin
Parents of two young children, Lee Morris, 44, and his wife, Hannah, 31, said they have started to burn rubbish in their coal fire while others said they have been starting bonfires in their gardens to get rid of the waste.
HGV driver Mr Morris, said: “It’s ridiculous. 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.”
Fly-tipping has become a serious problem in the neighbouring area of Clwyd West, with nine incidents on a two-mile stretch of road in the first week of January.
Wales recorded the highest number of fly-tipping incidents in 2015-2016 since 2011-2012, with 35,758 last year.
Laura Griffiths, 27, who has three children under the age of six, said she and several other neighbours have been forced to ask elderly neighbours if they can put their bin bags inside their wheelie bins because they do not have so much waste.
She said her grandmother has taken most of her waste, and added: “It’s an absolute nightmare.”
A Conwy Borough Council spokeswoman said £2.9million was being paid each year to dispose of waste at landfill, of which 51 per cent could be recycled.
They added monthly collections are estimated to save the council £558,000 a year.
Recycling rates during the first three months of the trial had risen by 15 per cent, they added.
The spokeswoman for the council, which is run by a Lib Dem, Independent, Plaid Cymru and Labour coalition, said they were still waiting for nappy bins to be delivered, and added other councils are using plastic bags for nappies which were sufficient.
She said: “Extra waste generated over the Christmas period is likely to be recyclable and therefore collected weekly.
“We do advise residents use recycling centres to dispose of extra waste, but it would be much better to recycle it in the first place.”
Falkirk Council in Scotland became the UK’s first area to permanently introduce monthly bin collections.
