From The Metro:
A council has threatened to stop a waste collection service after residents created a 20-tonne rubbish mountain in the street.
The debris was piled up overnight on the Wonford estate in Exeter, Devon, and caused chaos by blocking the road... The authority's head of cleansing services, Mike Trim, said the residents' actions were dangerous and the bulky waste collection service would have to be stopped if they continued... "We have asked people not to put their goods out early and on this occasion there was about 20 tonnes put out the night before..." The council said items for collection should only be taken to the collection point when council staff are there - between 10am and 4pm.
A grim document
10 hours ago
10 comments:
The Metro has done you a disservice here: rather than a council depot, the 'collection point' in question is a residental street where a van calls on an annual rota to collect bulky items for free - arriving at 10am and leaving at 4pm.
Understandably, the local residents weren't too happy about having their road partially blocked by 20 tonnes of flammable rubbish - although according to thisisnorthdevon.co.uk the record haul last year was an astonishing 73 tonnes.
Seems the locals aren't too keen on the £13.00 charge to have bulky waste picked up from home.
MacH, sure, it wasn't entirely clear - but even assuming it was a 'collection point' in a residential street, if you have to set off to work at 8am, you have a choice between wasting a half-day's holiday or dumping it the evening before, what are you going to do? We don't need to speculate, do we?
Me, I'm wondering how a neighbourhood can generate 73 tonnes of rubbish - and how they ensure that local businesses are not taking advantage.
It raises the interesting question of whether the doorstep collection charge is elevated to subsidise this high-profile free service, thereby inevitably increasing the take-up to unmanageable proportions.
This was probably the result of a bit of 'blue-sky thinking' at council offices and implemented without a thought to the inevitable consequences.
My local council used to do a bi-annual skip service for such things, a few in each road for large waste. Popular it was too. They don't do it anymore.
Funnily enough, for that, you had to be out at about 5am to get stuff in before everyone else filled it.
MacH, I can only assume that the collections are once a month or twice a year (as DP suggests). And why shouldn't local businesses 'take advantage'? They've paid their tax, haven't they? Charging for collections is an even stupider idea - you end up with fly-tipping.
DP, in that case they should have done it monthly or something, methinks.
Councils. Don't even get me started...
Dick Puddlecote: " Popular it was too. They don't do it anymore."
What's the betting it all ended up in landfill and as a result of the EU restrictions on using landfill they stopped?
Fantastic! I've always supported the maxim - If the council won't take away your rubbish, then take your rubbish to the council.
if you have to set off to work at 8am
Or even earlier.
The collection area is an open space in a " troubled estate ", Exeter council does this two or three times a year in several such localities and very popular they are too. The alternative would be to expect people to transport stuff to the depot some 3-4 miles away or have it dumped on the street.
It is quite a community event with locals hauling their unwanted old furniture and other household rubbish on trollies, in cars or in wheelie bins to be collected by a fleet of rubbish vans and then stand around poking fun at each others trash.
This much hated scheme was imposed upon the residents of Wonford, much to their scorn.
http://www.pbworld.com/news_events/publications/network/issue_59/images/carter_fig3.jpg
Google ' wonford home zone '
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