Some parts of Saddleworth have been left without a black bin collection for almost four weeks.
Two of the collection days fell in the Christmas and New Year period leaving the bins unemptied.
Some residents have contacted Saddleworth News saying this is unacceptable. They now have issues with extra refuse bags around their houses.
One resident asked why the council had not made any alternative arrangements and wondered how they thought people would manage, especially with the extra waste from the festive period.
Councillor Jean Stretton, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Devolved Services, said: “Residents received a new collection calendar in the spring of 2012 which highlighted days affected over the Christmas period and when collections would take place.
“The information was also communicated via our social media, the Council website and articles and advertisements in the local press.
“We made provision for additional collections of green waste (food/garden) on Saturday, December 29 so organic waste would still receive a weekly collection.
“The majority of residents across the Borough heavily support the recycling services and as the available bin capacity for households is now four times what it previously was relatively few residents have reported this as an issue. Recycling by the residents of Oldham has saved considerable cost by sending reduced levels of waste to landfill.
“We apologise if anyone has been inconvenienced but all additional waste and recycling will be collected on the next scheduled collection day or alternatively you can make use of our household waste recycling centre at Arkwright Street in Oldham.”
Indeed.
The promised collection of garden waste (!) on 29th consisted of a crew “relaxing” in their cab and ignoring the few bins left out.
The “side-collection” promised with the brown-bin collection on the 8th January came to nothing.
Oldham Council has suggested Saddleworth residents use the facilities at the Sports and Leisure Centre (two bins, both overflowing) or take a 13-mile round trip to Arkwright Street with their own bins.
What I find hard to understand is why the council didn’t use the first available collection day (yesterday) do a black bin collection. Instead they just did a recyclables collection instead. Almost as though the dates came as a surprise… They’ve obviously not looked at the weather forecast either. Temperatures are dropping to minus figures next week. If it snows and they don’t come out…
They’ve known for 430 years on which day Christmas and New Year would fall. Recycling is clearly more important than clearing waste.
I can honestly say that we did not have a food waste collection on Pickhill lane as we all had our bins out and non were done on the 29th as usual what they say and do are 2 very different things
typical of the overpaid brains running the town all the green bins are bound to be full at this time of year as everyone will be busy gardening its Christmas dont forget
Too much intelligence required to change the rota and clear the grey and brown bins together or even put on an extra run to clear the backlog
Trust the bins of westwood are not full to busting they couldnt allow that could they !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A disappointing response from Cllr Stretton (or rather her officers). This isn’t about whether people support recycling – of course we do – or whether we had plenty of notice. Of course the majority didn’t complain, because they weren’t affected. Presumably the key issue here is cost, and the lack of funding to pay the crews to work overtime to do an additional collection, so let’s be grown up and say so. Going four weeks without a collection just isn’t an acceptable service
In support of the refuse collectors, we had our grey and blue bins collected yesterday and yes, there were lots of additional sacks left out, but they were all collected too.
The green bins weren’t collected at the usual time, but having left them out, they were empty by the time we left for work this morning.
Perhaps we were lucky to be in the area of Saddleworth with that allocation for yesterday, but I’d say they did a good job.
My brown bin is full, but I know it’ll be emptied next week.
I don’t dispute that it would have been preferable to have a collection in between, but then with limited resources and bin lorries, no doubt another area would have then missed out on their collection. They’ll never win.
I agree with Diane however my allocated day is next Tue for black bins. I have been to the tip twice over the 4 week period yet I’m still struggling with extra bags in the garage. Im lucky i have somewhere to put the extra bags and also a car for trips to the tip. But how have people gone on who have no car or storage? Perhaps like many they have to take to dumping their bags outside the house in hope someone will take them.
I feel sorry for the bin men & the call centre staff for a bad decision obviously made by some management pen pusher at the top of OMBC. Dock their wages for a day and put on an extra crew next time.
I think Diane can count herself lucky as this has not been the general experience judging by the bins and sacks still left around here. It does underline the basic unfairness and though most people would expect some inconvenience to have simply blanked out two weeks shows a lack of imagination. In previous years and in many other cash-strapped authorities the inevitable situation of Christmas and New Year occurring on a collection day has been managed by extending the existing collections to say 20 days rather than 14 days across the piece.
What grieves me that the “extra” collection on Saturday 29th (presumably at overtime rates) was inadequately and lazily executed by unfamiliar crews targeting the lowest volume waste stream.
I previously complained to the Council regarding this matter as no general waste collection from 18 December to 15 January is unacceptable and a health hazard. The Council kept telling me about the food waste collection on 29th December but that doesn’t help with the four weeks worth of nappies that have accumulated. Surely rescheduling the collection within a few days following New Year’s Day would have been far more reasonable.
There will be starving people in Ethiopia, with not a grain of rice to share between the lot of them, weeping into their hands when they come to hear of the pure injustice that some parts of Saddleworth have not had their bins emptied for 4 weeks.
What a ridiculous comment from Floyd Pinkerton. Theres people dying of cancer, theres civil war in Syria, Theres record lows temps in Eastern Russia, theres tension between North and South Korea, bush fires in Tasmania. However, if we all attempted to make, frankly moronic, comparisons between a council (who WE pay) who have failed in its duties and the ills of Africa and beyond then nothing would ever get done.
It was a ridiculous comment, and a moronic one indeed. It was meant to be, in order to highlight the chasm of difference between the plight of ‘slightly miffed’ Saddleworthians with overflowing bins and the plight of people locally and around the world who are really suffering. I agree with the previous comments, and I do feel the council are providing a poor service and should be challenged, but I was simply trying to put things into perspective. While many of us have been enjoying ‘Consumertide’ and all the paper, packaging, bits of turkey carcass, and empty bottles that it now entails, there have been people in down in Oldham relying on food banks to have anything at all, I’ll bet you that their bins aren’t overflowing.