Rubbish Bags Left Piled on Streets for a Week in Carmarthenshire
Residents in parts of Carmarthenshire faced a dilemma of having to stack rubbish on top of rubbish outside their homes as a result of a new bin collection approach experiencing disruptions due to a lack of staff. Across some towns and villages in the county, numerous bags were observed lined up on kerbs, some staying there for several days. This issue of delayed refuse collections around bank holidays is not unique and is a common problem in various areas.
- Carmarthenshire Council attempted a new system during the recent bank holiday by sending letters to residents with updated rubbish collection days.
- However, many residents found that their waste was not collected on the specified day, resulting in bags remaining on the kerbs for an extended period.
- Residents in one village were instructed to put out recycling and food waste for collection on a Tuesday night, but the collection did not happen as planned.
Some residents expressed their frustration over the situation, stating that their waste had not been collected for a whole week or only partial collections were made. The council acknowledged the ongoing challenges with waste collection during bank holidays and attributed the recent disruptions to unexpected staffing issues. Despite previous attempts to improve service delivery by offering overtime or alternative collection days, the problem persisted.
“We have listened to our residents and this bank holiday we piloted a new approach, which included direct communication with impacted residents with the aim of improving our service by having Monday collections distributed throughout the working week.”
The council assured residents that the cost of the trial, involving sending letters to inform about new collection dates, was lower than previous service delivery methods for bank holidays. While most collections were completed as communicated in the letters, some areas, particularly in the Carmarthen region, experienced increased disruptions due to unforeseen staffing challenges. A review will be conducted to identify areas for improvement ahead of future bank holiday collections.
In conclusion, Carmarthenshire Council acknowledges the shortcomings in waste collection services during bank holidays and is committed to addressing these issues to provide a more reliable and efficient service to residents.