Residents in Burnham-On-Sea have this week expressed their concerns that delays in collecting rubbish and recycling are causing a ‘public health hazard’.
Darren Lloyd, from Bathurst Close, spoke out amid ongoing delays in collecting recycled waste in the town following the recent snowfall.
Mr Lloyd told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Like many local residents I am very disappointed that a decision seems to have been made to ignore waste collections on streets that were previously frozen prior to Christmas.”
“This appears to be the case as, since the thaw about a week ago, I have seen refuse collections taking place on Burnham streets that were not completely frozen during the recent bad weather while rubbish continues to pile high on streets like ours that were the worst affected – we have not had any recycled waste collected in over three weeks.”
“Rubbish is piling in our streets, attracting vermin and creating an unnecessary public health risk.”
But Mark Blaker, Customer Relationship Manager at Somerset Waste Partnership, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I am sorry that Mr Lloyd has had his collections disrupted following the bad weather but pleased he has had his non-recycled refuse collected.”
“Recycling has been difficult, with daily tonnages exceeding twice the normal average due to a combination of the disruption and Christmas. For the first time, many households have been able to put out cardboard and plastic bottles at kerbside – a facility which, looking at the big picture, I’m pleased to say has been heavily used.”
“This meant that throughout last week, many crews were, despite working up to 12 hours a day, unable to complete their rounds on the scheduled day. We asked our collection contractor, May Gurney, to tackle the uncompleted parts of rounds the next day, so the knock-on effect was compounded toward the end of the week.”
“On the plus side, most households will now have had a recycling and food waste collection since Christmas, and the remaining backlog is declining. With scheduled collections a day in arrears this week, and a favourable weather forecast, we hope to be back on track at close of play on Saturday.”
