Council hits back in Scunthorpe waste protest

In the wake of the protests, North Lincolnshire council – the local authority concerned, has sprung to the defence of its workforce and criticised the protesting residents. A statement from the authority said the council would not tolerate employee intimidation in the row over bins.

The council said: “Commenting on the deplorable action of a few individuals who seemingly think they’re above the law and free to behave irresponsibly when council employees are doing their job and emptying bins, North Lincolnshire Council today made clear it will not tolerate this state of affairs.

“It is unacceptable for the bin men to be subjected to such appalling behaviour. Our employees are providing a public service and should not have to face such actions. Thankfully, most of our residents behave responsibly.

“The vast majority of our residents are cooperating and helping us to drive up the area’s recycling levels. It is with their efforts the rate has risen from 24 per cent to a very impressive 35 per cent in just six months.

“But the vast majority don’t make a fuss. They just get on and act responsibly and for that we want to express our thanks. Because of their efforts, North Lincolnshire Council now has the highest recycling rate of any unitary council in the Yorkshire and Humber Region.

Minority

“Thursday’s deplorable actions by a very small minority of residents – around 20 – shows a lack of respect for our bin men, who day after day do a fantastic job in clearing away people’s rubbish.

“Let there be no doubt about this: we will not sit back and allow a few residents to get away with refusing to take part in the scheme and dumping their rubbish. We are now exploring what action to take and we will be talking with the police about the way forward. What took place on Davey Avenue cannot be tolerated, and will not be. Intimidation of our employees, either on the bin rounds or in our contact centres, or anywhere else, is not on.

“It is not fair on the majority of our residents who are actively taking part in recycling. If rubbish is dumped on the streets we will treat this like any other form of fly-tipping. We have the powers to investigate and take action – and we will.”

The national media interested started this morning when
Joanna Pollock, a resident of North Lincolnshire district council, appeared on Radio 4's Today programme claiming that alternate weekly collections were unhygienic.

Ms Pollock was part of a protest in the town that was also covered on national and local television stations

Springing to the defence of the council was Neil Ferris, who is the principal waste management officer for the district and also a senior member of LARAC, the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee. Mr Ferris and his district were also defended – and criticised – by a string of emails that have appeared on radio 4's website throughout the day.

Pouring scorn on North Lincolnshire's collection service, Ms Pollock said: “There is absolutely no way that even with recycling that anybody can manage with just one bin.”

Ms Pollock claimed that every single yard in her street was full of black sacks and she added that when a house became vacated, neighbours began to fill its yard up with their black sacks.

Attack

Although the national media implied that the protest was a full scale attack by the residents of North Lincolnshire on the council's scheme, Mr Ferris told letsrecycle.com that it represented a very small percentage of his residents.

“At 11 o&#39c;lock, when the refuse truck passed by, there were about 30 residents present,” said Mr Ferris. “And from 70,000 households this is by no means a large protest.”

Mr Ferris, who also appeared on the Radio 4 programme defending the service, explained that the council considered a scheme that had seen recycling rates increase by 40% was “highly successful”. “Most people are getting on with it,” he said.

LARAC's principal policy officer said that the residents in the particular road involved with the protest were not using their blue boxes right, and by Ms Pollock's own admission on radio 4 there were no fewer than three boxes put out on the recyclable collection week.

And Mr Ferris added: “The challenge now is to engage these people that are struggling with the service, they are not segregating their waste and the key to success of any segregation scheme is to separate at the source.”

Cambridgeshire and Reading

Support for North Lincolnshire has been emailed in from residents all day, with residents in Cambridgeshire particularly pointing out that alternate weekly collection can work as long as householders use it correctly.

However one resident of Reading, where alternate weekly collections are due to start in October, claimed that the scheme would see rubbish pile up in the streets of his borough.