Disgruntled residents on a street that hasn’t had its bins collected for a month say rubbish is now overflowing and attracting an infestation of rats.
Residents on William Street in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales, last had their bins collected on December 19, causing wheelie bins, food waste boxes and dog poo bins to brim over. Locals are blaming their council for the uncollected piles of waste that have been accumulating since the cutting of rubbish collections last October.
Infestations of vermin are among concerns voiced by exasperated homeowners. The council, meanwhile, has offered its apologies to affected residents, assuring them the situation is a “one-off” and promised a swift clean-up of the street. However, Caerphilly County Council claimed changes to the waste collection system in October are unrelated to the ongoing issues.
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Residents on William Street in Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales, last had their bins collected on December 19
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Image:
John Myers)
Dog poo bins are also overflowing
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Image:
John Myers)
Resident Mark Birkby said: “You can see where the families are because their bins are overflowing now. It’s ridiculous. I’ve emailed everyone I can think of hoping for some sort of response. I am aware that this isn’t an isolated incident. It’s happening across the area so I felt I needed to get in contact with a variety of people who might be able to make a difference.”
Another angry local told WalesOnline: “This has also been happening for some time now. Before Christmas this was happening quite regularly where there’d be delays, but the delays aren’t usually this long. We last had our bins collected December 19. When you think of all the waste that we’ve got through in that time, it couldn’t really have happened at a worse time of year.”
Mark Birkby has slammed the situation as ‘ridiculous’
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Image:
John Myers)
They added: “Initially when it started happening the council would say it was due to unusually high quantities of waste. Then it was a lack of drivers or staff. We’re fortunate we have a lot of elderly in the street and their waste consumption isn’t as high. If that wasn’t the case the street could look really awful.”
In a bid to combat the crisis, neighbours have been pooling resources, with one resident saying: “Residents have been sharing bins and taking each other’s waste to try and keep bin bags off the street, but they say it’s got to a point where they’re struggling to keep pests away.”
Residents have been sharing bins
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Image:
John Myers)
Resident Ashleigh Harris also expressed her frustration, saying: “It’s happening all the time. Since October we haven’t had a regular collection. We suffer with rats terribly around the back and all of this extra waste is not helping.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Caerphilly County Borough Council said: “We would to apologise to those residents in the parts of the county borough impacted by the recent disruption to our waste collection services. Lessons have been learnt and we are urgently revising arrangements to ensure that this was a one-off, which will not be repeated again. We also want to thank all residents for their ongoing efforts to help increase our recycling rates and reduce waste.”