Bin crews in Ryde are under fire from residents who caught them on camera allegedly flinging around rubbish and not taking it away.
Tenants in a block of flats on Slade Road in Oakfield said they were fed up with bin men who were ‘launching’ the bin sacks around.
However, the Isle of Wight Council, which manages the Amey refuse contractors, said the bin men were moving excess rubbish into a corner.
Rubbish piling up
With a refuse collection done two days before Christmas but not again until the second week of January, residents found rubbish was piling up and has continued to do so.
Andy Tyler, who lives in the flats and filmed the binmen at work, said the communal bins were filling up because a lot of people use them and there is no recycling option.
He said:
“After Christmas, we obviously had a lot of stuff but the bin men did not take it.
“From then, the rubbish hasn’t gone down and instead they launch it around causing the bags to split.
“It is a horrible state of affairs because someone else has to clean up the mess they have made and we are fed up with it.”
Limit to black bin waste
The Isle of Wight Council does have a strict rule of only taking black bags of rubbish that are in the bin. But the video Mr Tyler took shows the Amey bin crew, employed by the council, throwing the left-over rubbish around and piling it up in a corner.
The council said to support and encourage recycling it has has introduced a limit on the amount of black bag waste that will be taken from households and stop collecting excess black bags left to the side of bins and communal bin stores.
IWC: Crews moving sacks out of the way
An Isle of Wight Council spokesperson said:
“The collection of waste from the bin store in the flats in Ryde has been investigated, as have the actions of the waste collection crew in moving the excess waste to the corner of the bin store.
“On this occasion it is clear the crew were moving the sacks out of the way of the communal bins to be able to empty them, and were picking up the excess sacks outside the bin store to place them inside.
“More care could have been taken in the way the sacks were moved for which we apologise, however the staff are correct not to take them as these sacks were not in the containers and considered to be excess waste.
“Our waste services team is reviewing the bin store to ensure adequate recycling containers are provided for the residents as either communal bins or reusable sacks for the individual flats.”
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may be been made by OnTheWight. Ed
