Cornwall residents ridicule council’s refusal to collect bin bags with ‘wrong colored handles’

Residents in parts of Cornwall where the council’s new waste collection service has started are trying to understand why their rubbish has not been collected. They were told it was because they were using seagull bags – with the wrong colored handles, black rather than white.

A number of people have accused Cornwall Council of wasting money and are angry at the irony that the black-handled bin bags they have used until now will have to go into the white-handled bags with the rest of their waste at landfill. trash. 0 because they cannot be recycled. The council claims a new standardized service will be much more efficient and encourage recycling.

Gary Miller wrote to CornwallLive asking: “I wonder if you know if you are aware of the number of people who have been refused litter collection because anti-seagull bags have the ‘wrong colored handles’?” My collection was declined today and on request to collect. The team why didn’t they take my trash, their response was that the bag doesn’t have white handles. This is a bag that was bought from Cornwall Council’s one stop shop less than a year ago.

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“We were not given the option of a new bag when the new bins were delivered and no mention of this was made to my property. I noticed today that this was the case in many towns in Cornwall where the new bin. The collection scheme is in effect; Facebook seems to have a lot of such incidents.”

He added: “Unfortunately I’m in a position where I can’t have one of the large bins as I have no rear access to my property and no footpaths outside it. My only option would be to leave the bin in the Road which exacerbates the limited parking problem we already have on this street and frankly makes the area look very untidy, as a taxpayer and resident of Cornwall Council I feel this is far from satisfactory.

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A resident of Millbrook on the Rame Peninsula, who did not want to be named, also contacted us: “Do you know or might find out why the residents of Millbrook and surrounding areas have had to give up their perfectly good bin bags seagulls. for the exact same bags, capacity etc but with white handles instead of black, doesn’t it seem like a total waste of money when councils are trying to save?

A Saltash resident posted a picture of the two bags side by side on social media, commenting: ‘I’m pretty disgusted! Get the difference – on the right is my old bag of seagulls that I bought shortly before they released the one on the left. The rubbish people won’t take my rubbish from my old one as it’s not the one given by the council. Cornwall Council!”

“My parents had the exact same problem yesterday. Rang the council and was told there was nothing they could do. Mum was told the old bag of seagulls just needs to go in the bin as they can’t be recycled,” added another .

Another resident came to the council’s defence: “But we’ve all been told not to use our old bins or bags and I know that’s frustrating. I know people who had perfectly good bins but can’t use them but the new rules are rules (right or wrong) All your rubbish has to fit in the bag or bin that the council have put out and I’m afraid I’ve had it for months days before we received information about him January February.”

A spokesman for Cornwall Council responded to the criticism: “Our new recycling and rubbish collection service aims to encourage everyone to reduce their waste and increase their recycling. To help with this we are supplying all residential properties with a new and standardized 180 litre. the bin or bag we will collect from the curb every two weeks.

“All rubbish must fit into the new bin or bag which our crews can monitor to ensure residents do not exceed the amount of rubbish they can dispose of. It also ensures that every household has a bin or bag that is the correct size and in good working order Once the new waste service is in your area, our crews will only collect rubbish from the new bins or bags that you we have made it available to them, for example, we encourage you to reuse it as garden storage.”

I specifically asked about people’s concerns that the bags are exactly the same color as the handles, so why can’t residents still use them?

“As part of our new waste collection service for Cornwall, we are asking residents, for the first time, to limit the amount of rubbish they can throw away to what can fit in their bin or protective bag every fortnight” , the spokesperson added.

“In order for our collection crews to enforce the new litter limitation rule, they must be able to clearly see that only the new gray bins or bags with white handles that we have issued are being used to dispose of litter and that there are no litter containers that residents may still have are taken out for collection.

“We encourage anyone who has an existing bag to reuse it or alternatively we can collect residents’ old bags once their new bin collection starts if they book it at www.cornwall.gov.uk/bindelivery once the service opens for their area. .”