Move to clear Shropshire waste backlog
Saturday 8th January 2011, 11:30AM GMT.
Emergency recycling collections were due to continue in parts of Shropshire today as council bosses continue to battle a build up of rubbish following the Arctic weather conditions which hit the county.
Telford & Wrekin Council said workers would be out in its part of the county after treacherous ice and snow made it dangerous for them to collect safely, while there was also a backlog due to Christmas.
The authority said grey bin collections were up to date but recycling collections would take place today as it continues to “catch up” on them.
It said all collections would be up to date by Monday. Veolia Environmental Services, which covers the Shropshire Council area of the county, said its collections were back to normal.
Councillor Adrian Lawrence, cabinet member for environment and rural area with Telford & Wrekin Council, said: “We are confident that all recycling collections will be up to date by Monday and we would like to thank residents for their patience as we catch up.
“We announced earlier this week that our contractor has put on an extra 10 cleaning vehicles and crews to help catch up with recycling collections.
“If anyone’s scheduled rubbish or recycling collection is missed, they should report this by calling (01952) 384384 or via www.telford.gov.uk”
Council chiefs say residents should separate cardboard and other recyclables as they may be collected separately and that green waste collections should begin again next week. The recycling centres at Granville, Halesfield, Ketley and Newport are open as normal.
Cat Slaytor, a spokeswoman for Veolia Environmental Services, said bin collections in the Shropshire Council area were back to normal. She said: “We suffered over the Christmas periods with the bad weather which put us behind with collections.
“But we are now fully up to date with mostly all areas with only a few outlying rural areas not visited.
“These include places like Craven Arms which have been exposed to the brunt of the weather.”
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thats disgusting, its a health hazard these people at the council are so lazy its not right
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OMG what a mess we never had this when the local councils ran the refuse collection. private enterprise = making more and more money at the expense of the overtaxed ratepayers
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Still piled up here, December 7th was last time they attempted to collect. Absolute disgrace, what do we pay Council Tax for?
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I am amazed and disgusted that Telford & Wrekin can claim that the Grey bin collection is up to date. Our grey bins have not been emptied for weeks now due to the weather and roadworks being carried out in the street.
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discgraceful service level – a bit of snow and they down tools – no one is accountable for this – thats the folly of privatising all these services
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Re the above article.
I live in Apley which I do not deem to be an “outlying rural area” – our recycling has not been collected for over 4 weeks! – Our collection day is Friday, I waited with eager anticipation…nothing, maybe Saturday – nothing. I appreciate the weather has led to delays but the build up of rubbish is appauling, no other industry would be allowed to get away with a 4 week delay. I suggest Cat Slaytor gets her information correct before commenting on the recycling being “fully up to date!”.
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its been weeks since the snow now and they still havent emptied my recycling, think i’ll just chuck it in the bin
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I wish I could believe T & Wrekin. Rycled material is now over 2 weeks behind and grey bins due to have been collected(in Priorslee) last Firday are still sitting outside houses.
Stop living in cloud cuckoo land and tell the truth
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the 3 most overused words or expressions within the Shropshire Star,
Bosses,
Arctic Conditions,
Controversial
This article gets 2 within the first sentence.
Please Mr Owen, could we have a day without any of them?
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It’s a controversial request, but I’ll ask my bosses.
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“Bosses” or “Chiefs”??
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I’ll ask them all.
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My three favourite comments by people who comment are..
Where were the gritters
what do we pay our council tax for
and, i blame the tories
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I finally found my recyclables collected when I got home from work on Friday, after much gnashing of teeth regarding the lateness & somewhat absurd disorganisation of collection over the winter.
I don’t think for a second that I’m the only one who will be so efficient with the recycling from now on after this experience. It’ll all go in the wheelie bin from now on-at least that way it stands half a chance of being collected.
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Still waiting for recycling to be collected, last time it was collected was in November, should have been collected Friday last week, didn’t come Saturday to collect and still no sign today. About time the contracr was cancelled and waste collection brought back in house.
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Still no sign of the recycling being collected.
Would Cllr Adrian Lawrence like to give us his latest excuse?
Being public spirited could I take this opportunity to inform the good councillor that this year Christmas Day will be December 25th.
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in dorrington they didnt collect the waste for nearly 4 weeks over Christmas! pathetic it was only a couple of inches of snow!
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excuses, excuses, its just a bin, its not complicated, pick the damn thing up!
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rubbish
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We last had our recycling collected on December 9th and are still waiting. The street now looks like a tip as the rubbish is flying all over the place. Are the council going to get the bin men to litter pick as well as collect the rubbish? So sick of excuses, if I didn’t do my job I wouldn’t be employed very long!
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Sorry but…. I don’t believe it. In Shrewsbury and my black bin has not been collected for over 5 weeks now. They managed the recycling last week which was good but it wasn’t that which was rotting in the bin…..
I have my fingers crossed that they don’t find some excuse not to empty it today
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how stupid to collect recycling! that can wait, at least telford it seems made the sensible call to prioritise rubbish
we need to bring back weekly bin day like the old district councils used to do it was much better back then
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the facts speak for themselves there is still rubbish on the street – how can they claim to be now “FULLY UP TO DATE” thats just not true is it, my eyes tell me that and MY NOSE! stinky
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so we all pay £1,000 a year to shropshire council, half of which they hand over to veolia and half they just P$$^ up the wall on corporate beaurocracy and they only do the bins once a fortnight, so i make that £38.48 per collection! They havent done me for a month, so can I claim for £76.96 back please ?
Seriously i bet they get money back from veolia so why cant we have it? if you went to a pub and they sold you a half pint in stead of a pint, you would get your money back right? why is councils the only business in the world where you get paid even if you dont turn up to work
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before you whine about council tax, you might want to get your facts straight.
Most of the council tax paid actually goes to West Mercia Police and Shropshire Fire service, with the minority coming back to SHropshire Council. Of that small part, thats cover everything from social care to leisure services etc etc, not just your bins my arrogant friend, so don’t start a rant without having a clue what your on about.
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thats not true J – get YOUR facts straight 90% of your council tax goes to the Council – the fire service is only about £55 per year!!!
READ YOUR BILL before you spread such rumours and mistruth
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Thats not true Harold Miller – get your facts straight. Its 79% for 2010/11.
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they need to bring back weekly bin day especially at christmas, before they privatised it it was weekly and we never had this bother at christmas
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To be fair to the bin men if you just ask A&E for their figures you will see that anyone who’s been out alot in this snow and ice has ended up injured, slips, trips and falls have been at record levels with broken collar bones, femurs, arms etc
Actually I even got served in the post office by a postie with one arm the other day, he said he’d gone down in the snow, owch, i was very impressed though to see him back at work the next day despite his severe injury perhaps the private sector workers on these rubbish contracts could learn a thing or two from the commitment of our public sector workers in the post office ????
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Who was the postie? Where is he based?
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I’ve seen that guy too, youngish chap working at the Parcel collection point at Castle Foregate – fair play to him
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Has anyone got a name for him?
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Wonder if the councils have penalty clauses in the contracts with respective private organisations that collect waste, that if waste is not collected on the due date, that the company pays the council a penalty for non provision of the service. I would also expect the council not to be paying for any addtional resources to collect the backlog.
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Blimey! Are we still talking/moaning about this.
In comparison, there are much, much more important things going on in this world than the collection of a few bags and bins of rubbish. Pull yourself together, people – you’re making yourselves look incredibly silly.
The amount of Council Tax you personally pay for your waste collection is probably pennies – not the hundreds of pounds suggested elsewhere in this thread. So stop peddling nonsense Mel Marchant – if your expectation is that you pay £500 for your waste collections, why not pay that to a private firm to take your waste away – I’ll happily reimburse the £0.20 or whatever you’ve so far paid for your Council collection. What a ridiculous scentence to type – you do read your posts after typing them, don’t you? I suggest you do.
The guys who run the wagons are employed to do a job – and I think on the whole they do a stirling job. Now if they feel they run the risk of sliding on the ice and slamming into my car due with an 18 ton truck (there’s video on YouTube of similar cases), then I’d rather they stay well clear, Thank you. Of course, if they did, I’m sure I could claim – which would come straight out of the Council purse and your Council Tax. Noggins people, please use them. Or what if one of the bin men slipped on ice whilst carrying your heavy bin? I see another claim there – straight out of the £1000+ Council Tax you’ve just paid. Think about things, please. You really are making yourselves look incredibly silly.
All businesses – not just Councils – have been affected by this extreme weather – and it has not been a fluttering of snow. We’ve had temperatures of -20C; reducing the effects of road salt considerably and causing major problems nationwide. Not that I think for a moment many of you have been spreading salt on your back street roads or cul-de-sacs to aid the collection of your waste.
Next winter may I suggest you all buy some books to read rather than clutter the internet with ill-thought out, media frenzied verbal garbage.
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that photo looks disgusting
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THATS THE FOLLY OF CONTRACTING EVERYTHING OUT, YOU LOSE THE FLEXIBILITY TO RESPOND TO THINGS LIKE THIS AND PROFIT COMES BEFORE CUSTOMER SERVICE EVERY TIME
RECYCLING SERVICES IN SHREWSBURY HAVE GONE DOWN HILL MASSIVELY SINCE THEY WERE PRIVATISED THEY STOPPED THE POPULAR CLOTHING RECYCLING SERVICE AND THE WINTER SERVICE HAS BEEN RUBBISH
ALSO THE SERVICE IS RUBBISH WHEN YOU PHONE UP, IF THEY EVEN ANSWER YOU THEY CANT GIVE THE CORRECT INFORMATION OUT
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i couldnt even get my car off my drive in that snow it was so skiddy im not suprised HGV drivers struggled in that ice
people who complain just have no HGV driving skills
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just how out of touch are they claiming its all ok now, Do these people even live in Shropshire ?
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These private waste companies are taking the tax payer for a killing – who is there to stand up for the paying customers rights ? the council are worse than useless, they have gone native, embedded within the contractor they now dont stand up for the customer and allow them to scandalously fleece public money without even bothering to provide the service. These companies should be FORCED to hand back all payments relating to the whole of December and January. The council should be stronger. Simply not done their job so why pay them?
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frankly the council, telford and wrekin services and veolia should apologise at least its been a complete balls up and the communication has been lacking no one on my street knows when collections take place any more they are all over the place
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it wasnt that bad, they should have tried harder to get down the lanes, a bit of snow is not that dangerous, councils are too soft and too risk averse basically
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