Here are 2 pictures of emptied and returned wheelie bins in Salisbury Street, with quite a number of them having not been returned to the position they had been left by residents. The bin men should not be fully blamed for this problem as they are under pressure to collect the rubbish as quickly as they possibly can.

Some piles just keep growing !!! I'm sure you can get some cream to fix that though

23rd of January and 1st of February 2008

Binbags, what binbags?

The problem with the flytipping of black bags continues to blight the Broadgreen Area. A ten minute walk around just 4 streets on the 23^rd of January revealed the following rubbish bags. Some of the pictures are of bags that could not be picked up by the bin men as they are side waste, but it shows that there is still plenty of mis-understanding about the new service 2 months in.



Broadgreen 23rd January 2008

Answer's from SBC

Answer's to Question's fron SBC on 22/11/07

Swindon Borough Council’s response to questions put to Council on the 22nd November 2007

Questions Consultation

1 Q Why have no direct, proper consultations taken place with residents, concerning the practicalities of introducing wheelie bins into the Broad Green Area? Cllr. Darker did attend the July 2006 BSACC meeting along with her husband Cllr. Wren (not invited but given the opportunity to speak) and asked for people’s opinions on recycling and wheelies. Although it was not on the agenda, the clear message sent back from this meeting was wheelie bins might be the way forward for some areas, but the Broad Green Area was not one of them.

A Individual consultation did not take place within any area although Officers did attend parish or community group meetings if requested. Waste policy should be applied across the Borough so that all residents receive a uniform system. Swindon has been criticised in the past for the number of different recycling schemes it had in different parts of the Borough. This was confusing for residents and made it difficult for the Council to communicate any clear messages.Broad Green residents had the opportunity to take part in the Borough wide consultation which took place in September 2006 and as road shows took place in the Town Centre on three days as part of this exercise, local residents were well placed to participate in the event.

2 Q Why was the suggestion made to both Cllrs. Darker and Wren that wheelie bins were not practical in the Broad Green area not acted upon, or that a return to collecting bins from back alleyways not looked into further? This idea was made long before any new lorries were purchased.

A Councillor Wren has never made that statement. The waste project board, which including representatives from all political groups, considered very carefully how the policy should be applied and these options were considered. New vehicles were not procured for the refuse collection service as the existing fleet could be adapted. We are also aware that many residents who live in terraced areas prefer wheelie bins. On balance the board reached the decision that the advantages that wheelie bins offered in terms of reduced littering, protection against animal attack, better hygiene and less risk of injuries to the public and collection crews outweighed the disadvantages.

3 Q Cabinet Member for Local Environment David Wren has been asked on a number of occasions to meet with residents of the Broadgreen area to listen to peoples concerns and problems with wheelie bins and fortnightly rubbish collections. Why has he constantly refused to meet with residents and answer questions about his policies?

A Councillor Wren has previously attended meetings at the Broadgreen Community Centre and has taken part in question and answer sessions on this topic. He has also spoken individually to local residents. Council Officers have also attended meetings at the Broadgreen Community Centre and have taken part in a question and answer session.

4 Q Have the two Borough wide consultations that have taken place on waste in the last 5 years been used to justify that a proper consultation on wheelie bins and fortnightly collections of non-recyclable rubbish has taken place?This needs to be asked, because although the Council consulted on fortnightly collection of residual waste as part of Swindon’s Local Municipal Waste Strategy 2002, and 10,000 surveys were printed, only 122 people replied. Such a small number that it fails to represent the feelings of the majority of residents?Further to this in 2006 there was a Public Consultation on the Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Swindon 2006 to 202077,000 surveys were printed, 1386 responses were received. This equates to a 1.8% response. However, this consultation was not actually about fortnightly collection or wheelie bins as shown by one of the comments added by SBC :Although the focus of this consultation was not about fortnightly collection or wheelie bins, 23 people commented that they wanted weekly refuse collection and did not want a fortnightly collection. The reasons for this were hot weather, concerns about fly tipping, disease, rats, flies and smelly overflowing bins.

A Whilst a response rate of 1.8% may seem low, it is a high response rate for this type of consultation. The consultation document was distributed with Swindon News, placed in public places and available at a series of road shows. As an added incentive each return was entered into a prize draw. The consultation exercise featured heavily in the local media which concentrated on the plans to introduce full kerbside recycling and wheelie bins in 2007.The consultation document said:Starting in April 2007 we will start to:· Introduce a fortnightly waste collection using wheelie bins or similar containers.The consultation was about all aspects of our waste policy but anyone who visited a road show, read Swindon News, read the local paper or listened to local radio would have realised that introducing wheelie bins was part of our policy.
Questions on Policy

5 Q Why are the criteria (below) for not having wheelie bins, as set out in the Recycling and refuse collection Service – Policy one- Distribution of wheeled bins so vague, unclear and open to individual interpretations? 1. it would need to be manoeuvred up or down a number of steps; Q: How many?

A. This is a matter for individual assessment based on the steepness and number of steps. The assessor would have looked at what was reasonable in agreeing how the policy should be interpreted.
2. there is no storage space available for it without it being taken through a house for collection;
Q: How is this determined?
A. The assessment would be based on the footprint of a standard 240 litre wheelie bin. We do not expect anyone to have to store the bin on the pavement.
3. the home is a flat where there is no suitable storage area;
A. As above
4. the front garden is too small to accommodate it and there is no alternative access; Q: Why no specific guidelines? i.e. a minimum square footage.
A. Again the assessment would be based on the footprint of a standard 240 litre wheelie bin.
5. there is no safe place for it to be left for collection; for instance because of a steeply sloping street. Q: Why no specific guidelines? i.e. what constitutes a safe or unsafe place or a minimum gradient after which a wheelie bin would be considered dangerous to be left for collection.
A This again would be based on an individual assessment taking a number of factors into account, including gradient, length of slope, proximity to road etc.
The wheelie bin policy is very confusing and disjointed. Again referring to the Recycling and refuse collection Service – Policy one- Distribution of wheeled bins(Agreed by Project Board on the 2nd February 2007)It says the following:1-Properties will be assessed individually by a member of the Council’s WasteTeam and the householder will be informed of their decision.
Comment. We do not believe that the policy is confusing. It is intended to allow a pragmatic and flexible approach to determining which properties should have wheelie bins. If residents believe their property assessment is incorrect then it can be reassessed.

6 Q The council states that every home has been individually assessed for the suitability of a wheelie bin and yet the truth of the matter is actually a blanket policy across the Broadgreen area (excepting Medgebury Road and Place, Gooch Street and 150 – 176 Manchester Road, which all front straight onto the path) because, as explained by Steve Harcourt at a community meeting, ‘there cannot be a split wheelie bin and blue bag collection in the same street’.

A The exceptions you have set out demonstrate that we have carried out a street by street assessment of the Broad Green area. There are also some other properties in Gladstone St. that have been put on a ‘Blue Bag’ collection. The statement made by Steve Harcourt has been misinterpreted – however it is certainly the case that where the majority of the households in a street are on blue bags we would probably leave the few properties that were suitable for wheelie bins on a blue bag collection as well. This is what Mr Harcourt was referring to.

7 Q Why therefore, if the policy is not to split collections in each street between wheelie bins and bags, were both time and money wasted on this individual property assessment exercise?

A The policy is not as you have stated. This is clarified in the response to Q6. Where appropriate we will put a small number of properties on a street on a blue bag collection with the remainder on wheelie bins. What we are not always able to do is put a small numbers of properties on a wheelie bin collection where a street is on black bags.

8 Q 2-Where householders believe that they could cope with a wheeled bin despite the opinion of the member of the Waste Team then we will be happy to provide one on a trial basis unless we believe that a wheeled bin collection would be unsafe.This part of the policy goes against the fact that collections cannot be split between bags and wheelie bins. Why?

Please see response to Q6 and Q7. Each request is assessed individually and wherever practical we would try to meet the householders request.

9 Q As both the Broadgreen Area and Ashford Road, Brunswick Street, Folkstone Road, Hythe Road, Kent Road, Lansdown Road, Maidstone Road and Pembroke Street in Old Town are extremely similar in both housing stock, road layout and road width what criteria actually differentiates the two areas as to the suitability of wheelie bins?

A These roads suffer from roadside parking and use by commuters using them as ‘rat runs’. Some parts of these roads are also on a gradient. They were excluded for these reasons on the basis of the following policy clauses:6. There is no safe position where the bin can be left for collection because of a steeply sloping street or other reason .7. Properties, where because of on-road parking or other issues, wheeled bin collection would cause unacceptable obstruction to the highway.Broad Green is not used as a ‘rat run’ in the same way and observations on collection day on two occasions has not demonstrated unacceptable levels of congestion. Broad Green is generally flat in character.

10 Q Why has no consideration been taken or policy put in place to stop the following?· With open access to bins in front gardens, people will throw their excess rubbish in other people’s bins.· Wheelie bins stored in front gardens will leave them as an easy target for anti-social behaviour and abuse, especially with the numerous drunks that frequent the area late at night.· Many people will be at work during the day so bins will remain on the path until the evening (as the orange recycling boxes frequently do), causing obstruction and hazard to pedestrians. How will this be stopped?Fly tipping will increase as people have excess rubbish they are unable to fit in their wheelie bin. How will this be successfully and regularly cleared up and a long-term workable solution to tackle this problem be implemented?

A All these matters have been considered. Experience from other areas that have put wheelie bins in urban areas is that this kind of abuse is not common, although it can happen. We have no evidence of orange boxes or wheelie bins causing obstruction to pavements, and this has not been a problem in those terraced areas that have had a kerbside recycling service for some time.We believe that the vast majority of our residents will manage their waste responsibility and will have no difficulty in engaging with our new services. The number of requests we have had for small bins is evidence of this. Fly tipping is an offence and the culprits will be dealt with in a proportionate way. We are continuing to search black bags for evidence of those responsible for putting them out.
Questions on the Implementation of the new rubbish collection service across the Borough

11 Q Why has the alleged success of the West Swindon wheelie bin trial been used to justify the implementation of wheelie bins across all terraced areas? There can be no comparison made between houses in West Swindon with big front gardens and side access to the rear of the property and small terraced housing with front gardens that are approximately 4metres wide including a 1 metre wide path by 1.5 metres in depth and no side access to the rear of the property.

A The West Swindon pathfinder demonstrated that wheelie bins and kerbside recycling were effective in increasing recycling rates and more importantly reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. Whilst there are a number of terraced properties in West Swindon and other properties with access or storage difficulties it has never been claimed that it is comparable to any other area.

12 Q How was the success of the West Swindon trial measured? Were any follow up consultations or surveys carried out post trial with the residents of West Swindon?

A Through meetings with residents, feedback to a waste roadshow held specifically for West Swindon in the Autumn of 2005, level of complaint and comment about the service and data from collection rounds.
Questions on the change over from black bags to wheelie bin collection

13 Q Why, bearing in mind the very diverse nature of the Broadgreen Area, were no details given in different languages or contact made with all the different ethnic groups living within the area, explaining the new fortnightly wheelie bin service?

A All the leaflets and other information has included a statement that the information is available in other formats. Because of the number of languages that are spoken within the community this is now considered the most appropriate approach. Interpreters are being used for enforcement and advice visits were appropriate.

14 Q In the leaflet attached to new wheelie bins, only the start date for the first collection was given, no where did it say the date of the last bin bag collection and only a few bins had stickers on them explaining that after the 5th November there would be no black bag collection. Why was the change over from weekly black bag collection to fortnightly wheelie bin collections, so badly explained that thousands of residents across the town put out bags between the 5th to the 9th November, not realising that there would be no collection that week?

A The envelope containing the leaflet which was delivered with the wheelie bins, had a yellow sticker attached which stated ‘There will be no black bag collections from 5th November’ for those properties which would not receive a wheelie bin collection that week. The leaflets delivered with ‘Blue bags’ for those residents remaining on a ‘Blue bag’ collection, contained the same message. In addition some but not all of the wheelie bins had the same sticker attached. Experience would suggest that this message was not always understood, and we should have communicated it more strongly.
Questions on the new fortnightly wheelie bin collection service

15 Q Bins that are returned to properties after emptying are being placed in gateways, blocking access for deliveries – Post, parcels, milk and papers. As well as for example, electric and gas meter readers. These people should not be expected to move bins out of the way, just to gain access to properties in pursuit of their daily jobs. Why is this happening?

A Wheelie bins are being returned to where the householder puts them out for collection.

16 Q How many properties are now on a blue bag collection? It is our understanding that it has now gone up from the 5500 households mentioned on the SBC website to near 7000, why?

A There are just over 6,500 properties on blue bags. This is because the delivery crews where each accompanied by a Waste Warden who identified additional properties that were not suitable for wheelie bins. We have also carried out some re assessment of properties at the request of residents and where there is good reason to do this.

17 Q Will the dumped/fly tipped black bin bags that are now spread around the Broadgreen area, be regularly cleared from the streets by the council, and will enforcement take a strong line in pursuing and prosecuting the residents that are causing this problem?

A Black bags which are being flytipped are being cleared regularly and wherever those responsible are being identified and visited. This is part of a measured and proportional enforcement programme.

18 Q Why were wheelie bins given to residents in the Okus area of Old Town, only for them to receive blue binbags and a letter a few weeks later telling them to use their new bins to store blue bags of rubbish in, but to only put the blue bags out for collection?

A It was determined late on in the programme that these properties were unsuitable for wheelie bins because of a combination of steps and steep gradients. However many of the residents wished to keep the bins as they recognised that they prevented animals and pests attacking refuse bags and we were happy to agree to this.

Oxford Food Waste Collection

OXFORD TO START FOOD WASTE COLLECTIONS-24 JAN 2008 (Oxford Mail)

HERE

Thousands of Oxford residents will see a partial return to weekly waste collections, with food scraps collected from April. A scheme to collect food and green waste from more 6,500 properties spread across the city is expected to be agreed by city councillors on Monday. The pilot scheme is estimated to cost more than £160,000 and will be focused primarily on homes east of Magdalen Bridge. However, the scheme will not spell the death knell of the controversial fortnightly residual waste rounds. Faced with continued anger over the introduction of alternate waste collections, the council said it wanted to start collecting kitchen waste ahead of the rest of the county. With a food treatment plant not likely to be built before April 2009, more than 10 per cent of Oxford's residents will benefit from a scheme a year early. But it will mean large quantities of waste having to be carried by road, probably to a plant in Bedfordshire.

Jean Fooks, executive member for a cleaner city, said: "The stuff most people are bothered about is food waste. "Some people manage but having to store it for a fortnight is something that presents some people with problems. Collecting it weekly will reassure people that we are listening to what they tell us they want. "At the moment a lot of food waste is going into landfill." Some people have claimed that the lack of weekly collections has led to a rise in the number of rats in the city. Food waste from Oxford will probably be sent to an anaerobic digestion plant, which produces bio-gas which is used to generate electricity. It is understood the city council will be investing £95,000, with the balance coming from the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership.

Alternative Weekly Collections apparently work

As you can still see, moving to AWC isn't causing any of the 'hypothetical' dumping problems that were put to the Council before they introduced the scheme.

Confused of Broadgreen

This wheelie bin in Alfred Street appears to be a long way from home!!!