RUBBISH and recycling is continuing to pile up outside the homes of people across Denbighshire as the council admits it’s still missing collections.
Two weeks after the roll-out of a new Trolibocs system, which sees residents expected to separate their own recycling, collections across the county are still being missed.
Non-recyclable ‘black bin’ rubbish is now collected every four weeks as opposed to the old two-week system whilst a weighted hessian bag is used for cardboard.
Thousands of residents are continuing to experience problems with the council missing collections and rubbish littering streets.
Denbighshire Council chief executive Graham Boase publicly apologised ten days ago, but still the problems persist.
Images shared widely on social media on Tuesday showed large numbers of bin bags piled high on Rhyl’s Princes Street. They were later collected by council operatives.
Resident Alex Hammond contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service to complain and called Mr Boase’s apology “hollow”.
“I am aware that a lot of the community in Rhewl have again not had their waste collected for at least the second if not the third week in succession, and Vivod residents are reporting similar issues,” he said.
“A friend in Llangollen had to endure all his neighbour’s recycling and food waste at the collection point outside his house for a week following a failed collection from the previous week.
“He then advised that this was only resolved on Wednesday last week by one of his neighbours flagging down a waste collection vehicle and demanding they go back to collect the waste.
“The operative was apparently unwilling, telling the resident it had already been collected when it clearly hadn’t, and he was uncomfortable with having to reverse the vehicle back down the hill after making the collection.”
Llangollen resident Stuart Davies added: “The public are fed up with the failing roll-out! Shambles is the word they all use.”
Martin Tillett added: “Denbighshire County Council did not assess the time it would take to collect. They did not listen to our comments regarding (the potential for an) increase in collection time.
“It’s a nightmare with all food waste stacking up and overflowing into the street. Nobody takes responsibility these days, but they are happy with their job title and pay.”
A spokesman for Denbighshire County Council said: “We are aware that as we continue to roll out the new waste and recycling service, there are still a number of missed collections for which we apologise for.
“The number of missed collections has fluctuated every day depending on the areas that we are collecting.
“Denbighshire has a mix of rural and urban areas; therefore, this impacts how many collections are completed each day.
“We are continuing to closely monitor this situation every day and expect temporary measures we have put in place to resolve this issue will take effect once the new service is fully embedded.”
He added: “These currently include bringing in additional temporary resources – vehicles and staff – to clear the backlog of waste and to support our planned collection rounds.
“We have crews out on Saturdays focussing on key areas which have been missed during the week. We again apologise to any households affected by missed collections.
“We understand that this is very inconvenient and upsetting for residents, but we are doing everything we can to catch up.
“We would also like to thank residents for the efforts made by them to ensure that their recycling is sorted correctly and placed in the appropriate containers.
“These efforts have greatly improved the quality of the recycling materials collected and this is really appreciated. Information about all aspects of the service is available on the website, including how to report a missed collection, and regular updates are posted on Denbighshire’s social media accounts.”
