Changes to rubbish collections raise fears of chaos across city

FEARS are growing that a new system of collecting refuse in York could cause chaos across the city amid complaints it is turning residents into "citizen binmen" while allowing rubbish to pile up in the streets.

Discontent has been growing since many taxpayers were told to store waste in bags behind their homes, then carry it to the front so it could be collected on bin days.

It is part of the rolling out a new regime of bi-weekly collections of domestic waste, alternating with a weekly recycling round, to 20,000 households across the city.

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However, Labour councillors claimed yesterday that the new system was working so poorly that much of the rubbish was not being collected anyway.

Problems had already been experienced in the Holgate ward last week and now the discontent had spread to parts of Acomb, according to Labour's Ken King.

He said rear alleys behind Beaconsfield Street and Gladstone Street were the latest to be affected, rubbish sacks piling up after the council failed to collect them on a scheduled day late last week.

He added: "Refuse has been piling up and been left uncollected, after residents put it out as advised by the council.

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"It seems the roll-out of this new collection policy is going about as well as when the fortnightly refuse collections were brought in – very badly.

"Refuse and recycling collections should be an area in which the council really shows the local council taxpayer that everyone is getting something for their money, but even that assumption has been undermined by this catalogue of problems.

"Residents deserve better and how many times have we had to say that? This mess needs sorting out and quickly."

Labour leader David Scott added: "If this is how they implement it for the rest of the city it will chaos. There is a difference between the recycling requirements of terrace house and houses with full gardens.

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"The aim of increasing recycling to all residents is to be welcomed. But the system is not being responsive to residents' circumstances."

York Council has previously said residents were being asked to place their refuse and recycling at the front of their properties because many of the back lanes in the area were being fitted with gates to improve security.

But many residents from the Leeman Road and Poppleton Road areas have already protested about having to store refuse in black bags at the rear of their properties - then bring it through kitchens and living rooms for collection at the front.

However, the council's executive member for neighbourhood services, Ann Reid, said: "We are currently rolling out kerbside recycling to the remaining properties across the city which do not currently benefit from this service.

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"At the same time we are taking the opportunity to make some changes to the way waste is collected.

We recognise that this has caused some confusion to residents and some have voiced their concerns about the changes we have introduced.

"We have therefore asked for a review to identify the best way to collect rubbish from terraced areas. This may mean slightly different systems in different streets.

"Beaconsfield and Gladstone Streets have changed to front of property collections, but some residents have been leaving refuse in the back lane.

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"I can confirm that those back lanes were cleared of all rubbish on Saturday therefore any refuse there now has been dumped illegally."

"The council has been deploying extra resources in the areas where we have introduced recycling to ensure that the streets are cleared of rubbish.

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