Skip to content
DisruptPress Beta

DisruptPress Beta

Just another WordPress site

Widget
  • Uncategorized
  • independent
    • wpa_test_article
    • script test
    • Sample Page
  • test
  • test
  • Sample Page

Uncollected rubbish prompts 1.8 million missed bin complaints

Posted on February 12, 2019 by aobrien


Bins being collectedImage copyright
Getty Images

Image caption

Councils make over 800 million waste collections every year according to the Local Government Association

Councils in the UK received more than 1.8 million complaints last year about waste not being collected from homes, figures obtained by the BBC have shown.

A survey of councils found the number of complaints about missed collections has increased by a third since 2014.

In real terms, spending on waste collection in England has fallen by 17% since 2010-11, figures show.

But the Local Government Association said 99.8% of bin collections went ahead without complaint.

On average, 4,500 complaints were made to councils every day in the UK last year about the problem.

The number of complaints may not correspond to the level of missed collections as some householders whose bins are not emptied may not report it.

Image caption

Residents in some parts of the Hyde Park area of Leeds said their bins hadn’t been emptied for a month

In Hyde Park, Leeds, residents said the council had not collected household rubbish for nearly a month.

“We see rats everywhere and it’s just not a nice place to live in,” said Mariam Muse, who made a complaint to Leeds City Council.

“The bins are overflowing and we’ve had this issue for a while and it’s just really disgusting.”

However, Councillor Mohammed Rafique said the authority’s missed bin collection rate stood at 0.8% a year.

“We encourage people to get in contact with us if we miss bins, and we’ve made it easy for people to alert us through the use of social media and the council’s mobile phone app,” said Mr Rafique.

Image caption

Hyde Park resident Miriam Muse said overflowing bins had meant rats are often seen in the street

What the figures show

  • BBC News sent a freedom of information request to 391 local authorities responsible for waste collection in the UK.
  • 336 authorities provided responses, which showed that 1.8 million complaints were received in 2018 about non-recyclable, and recyclable waste not being collected.
  • Comparable data from 213 councils show the number of complaints in Great Britain has increased from 950,000 in 2014, to 1.2m in 2018, a rise of a third.

Bin workers in Birmingham were on strike for almost three months in a dispute over job losses in 2017, which led to thousands of tonnes of rubbish piling up on the city’s streets.

The amount of rubbish left in some streets led to residents taking action to clear up the waste themselves and business owners claiming the uncollected waste had affected trade.

The industrial action came to an end but residents in parts of the city reported problems with uncollected waste piling up again last year after new shift patterns for refuse collectors were rolled out.

And bin workers in the city who belong to the Unite union are set to strike again, with planned walkouts for two days a week from later this month.

Image copyright
Getty Images

Image caption

Thousands of tonnes of waste were left on Birmingham’s streets during a three-month strike in 2017

Analysing figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), BBC News found real terms spending on waste collection by local authorities has fallen to £888m in 2017-18, from £1bn in 2010-11, after accounting for inflation.

Speaking on behalf of councils in England Councillor Martin Tett, from the Local Government Association (LGA), said: “Councils carry out around 821 million waste collections from households per year – not including recycling collections – these figures actually show that 99.8% of bin collections were completed without complaint.

“Between 2010 and 2020, councils will have lost almost 60p out of every £1 the government had provided for services and councils in England face an overall funding gap of £8bn by 2025.”

A spokeswoman for MHCLG said: “Authorities are receiving £1bn extra in funding this coming year to help deliver local services.

“We want councils to respond to the wishes of local people, many of whom want to see bin collections as frequently as possible”.



Source link

Posted in Uncategorized

Post navigation

Traffic jams ‘cost drivers a week of their lives a year’
Bluebird: What next for Donald Campbell’s record-breaker?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Laureus World Sports Awards: Simone Biles and Novak Djokovic win top honours
  • FA Cup: Paul Pogba header doubles Man United's lead against Chelsea
  • FA Cup: Ander Herrera gives Manchester United lead at Chelsea
  • Murder victim Breck Bednar’s family ‘taunted online’
  • Leeds United: Championship club fined £200,000 by EFL over ‘spygate’

Recent Comments

    Archives

    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • November 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017

    Categories

    • Bitcoin
    • Uncategorized

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries RSS
    • Comments RSS
    • WordPress.org
    Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: aipress by Author.