Locals fed up with Mousehole rename ‘prettiest village’ in Cornwall ‘binhole’

One of Cornwall’s prettiest villages and a popular tourist destination has become a sea of ​​redundant bins covered in seagull droppings – and Cornwall Council has now said it could be weeks before they are collected. Furious local residents and businesses in Mousehole have renamed their village the ‘binhole’ as bins were left outside to be picked up by the local authority, but left sitting in clusters around the picturesque harbour.

West Cornwall was the third area of ​​the county to see the new gray bins roll out. The scheme was announced earlier this year and mid-Cornwall was the first area to be primed for the new collection regime, which changes from weekly to fortnightly emptying. Cornwall Council said that despite some initial problems, in mid-Cornwall recycling has increased from 40% to 55% of all waste.

The new system includes the current recycling bags, which will continue to be collected every two weeks, a bin or bin bag for non-recyclable rubbish (which will be collected on the alternate week) – and two bins for food waste which will be collected weekly. In many areas, people have welcomed the change saying the new system is working well.

Read more: Fortnightly litter collection to be launched in more parts of Cornwall

Read on: ‘Experts’ say go to Padstow in summer ‘to avoid the crowds’

However, in places like Mousehole, while the new bins have been delivered to households, the old ones have not been taken, leading to unsightly congestion around the quaint lanes by the picturesque harbour.

Local resident Kim Hambleton, founder of jewelery and gift shop Just Lily, which has stores in Mousehole and Porthleven as well as Falmouth and St Ives, said throwing away the new bins but not picking up the old ones at the same time it means showing great good sense.

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She said: “I call our village the ‘gang’. There are baskets everywhere. Some of these baskets are covered with seagull droppings. Others have stinky, nasty garbage in them. It is absolutely disgusting. I know the locals are up in arms. It’s bad enough. for us, but the poor visitors who come to enjoy one of the most beautiful harbors in Cornwall.

“I think it’s bad management. No common sense. You’d think it would make sense to drop a new basket and pick one up at the same time. But no. Our village looks very sad now. it doesn’t look good at all.”

In a series of comments and posts on Facebook about uncollected green bins, Cornwall Recycles, which is behind the green bin removal, told Kim that the bins belonged to property owners – many of whom in places like Mousehole could be a second home. owners or maybe not aware of what to do – and had to register to collect them for free.

Kim said she registered as a resident to get her bin out for free, but it wasn’t removed. In a message to her, Cornwall Recycles said: “However, the free old bin collection and recycling service in your area has passed. However, you can take it to one of our household waste recycling centers which has a recycling bank for Bulky Plastics are at Bude, Connon Bridge, Launceston, United Mines, Truro, Falmouth, St Austell.

More confusingly, even though the service said the free collection period had passed, Kim added: “We have now been told that these bins could be recycled until August 18. This is not acceptable in such a small tourist village struggling for space.”

Fellow resident Jane Johnson said: “Bloody nightmare here in Mousehole. Bins of all colors are scattered everywhere. Holidaymakers (who shouldn’t get bins from the council as they have to pay for a private collection service) get them just as well as residents. There’s nowhere to put the old bins, because nobody has outdoor space here.

“We don’t have enough room for the black bin, which is bigger than our old green bin, but those bags are no good for keeping out foxes, badgers or seagulls. Collecting flies. We need recycling bins in the village.”

Tim Pullen added: “It’s very unpleasant and unsightly to have all these bins. They have already been here for about two weeks and will be here until the 18th of August we are told.

“When the bins are emptied every Tuesday, all the streets are blocked. It’s just incompetence. I don’t understand why they wait until mid-August to take them.”

Another resident who did not want to be named added: “It’s dangerous. It is a health hazard. It is a fire hazard. Some people put the doggie bag in there. We can’t get an ambulance around here because these bins are blocking. paths.”

Barbara Lonsdale said the situation bordered on “Pythonic”, referring to the Monty Python films. She said: “It might work where 80% of homes are not second homes. Second homes have apparently not been given the new black bins as they would have to pay private collection companies to pick up their rubbish and recycling. Not that 99. percent of second-home vacationers ever bothered to recycle. It’s Pythonic.

Cornwall local councilor Thalia Marrington said: “It’s obviously a huge operation, changing a whole waste service and I think this area may have been more difficult because, first of all, this phase is happening in the summer period now , when everywhere is busy, secondly there. there are a lot of holiday lets and second homes for the council to ‘properly’ allocate or not allocate and thirdly we’ve had to remove the old Penwith bins here whereas other areas didn’t have bins before .

“There have been over 10,000 requests, for example, for the removal of old bins (which happens over a five-week period) and although I tried to make the case to come and pick them up quickly, all the other seasonally affected areas request and for this.

“The council is aware that there may be a problem with ‘legacy’ litter in this area and I’m sure once the new service is ‘uploaded’ and any teething issues have been resolved they will look at that as well. It’s important. that we also exchange and collect food waste and align with the rest of the country.”

She said Cornwall Council’s community and engagement team will be on hand to listen to any concerns and answer any questions on Thursday, July 18, from 12pm to 2pm at Solomon Browne Hall, where they will be holding an exhibition of waste and recycling.

A Cornwall Council spokesman said: “Our contractor has already started cleaning the bins that households have asked us to collect. Due to the large number of bins in the area, this will take several weeks to complete. Anyone registered for the collection. service, they will receive a message on the Sunday before the bin is collected so they know to leave it out.

“We encourage households to reuse their old bins – perhaps as garden storage, or as a water cistern – or donate them to a community group who can use them. Households that have not signed up for the collection service and do not wish to keep their bin can take it to their local Recycling and Household Waste Centre.”

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