'Urgent' call for review of waste service as rubbish builds up in streets

It comes as businesses and residents continue to contact the Echo over missed collections and rubbish piling up in the streets.

Weymouth town centre has been branded an ‘eyesore’, as what is believed to be residents’ rubbish is dumped in the street due to the change from weekly to fortnightly bin collections.

As reported in the Echo, the Dorset Waste Partnership has been inundated with calls over issues with the implementation of the Recycle for Dorset scheme.

More complainants have come forward, including an 87-year-old who was told to sort through three-week-old rubbish which bin men would not collect.

Cllr Mike Byatt has called for an ‘urgent’ review of the DWP to be held in public after it was revealed it could go more than £1.2million over budget.

A meeting between Dorset County Council party group leaders and Cllr John Wilson, the chairman of the county council, will be held today to decide whether the motion should be considered by full council or Cabinet.

Cllr Byatt, who represents Weymouth, wants the authority to discuss the ongoing issues ‘in the public arena’.

He says he and other councillors on the borough council are ‘very concerned’ about the situation and says the DWP ‘doesn’t work’.

“There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the way DWP operates,” Cllr Byatt said.

“Instead of being able to have a full debate about it, the chair of the council has decided it’s not an urgent item.

“It will have to go to Cabinet and then to full council – so we will have to wait until at least the new year.

“This has been going on for some time. I talk to lots of councillors and I know that lots of constituents have concerns.

“The scheme is going over budget – who is accountable?”

Giving an update on the situation this week, a DWP spokesman said: “We currently have around 300 reported missing bins to deliver as a priority, which we expect to complete by the end of this week.

“In addition, we have around 1,200 non-urgent requests for replacement containers and changes to the standard containers, which were received after the deadline of 19 June. We have always stated that we would not be able to make any late changes until after the service starts, so we are on track with these.

“We received 1,100 calls a day on average last week, including 950 on Friday. Waiting times have also reduced.”

87-year-old still waiting for rubbish to be collected

AN 87-year-old was told to take three-week-old rubbish out of a bin and sort it in to black bags, otherwise it would not be taken away by the DWP.

Olive Adams says she filled her green bin – which now must be used for recycling – with rubbish before the Recycle for Dorset roll-out.

The pensioner called DWP three weeks ago and explained that she would need the bin to be emptied before she can use it for recycling.

But despite her calls, the rubbish still hasn’t been taken – and she says she was spoken to like she was ‘stupid’ by call handlers.

“They have told me to out the rubbish in to black sacks – I’m 87, I can’t stand for very long.

“How can I be scrabbling about in my bins?

“I already have permission for them to come up my drive to collect my rubbish, why can’t they just take this?

“I spoke to one man who was helpful and said they would take it. But when I called again they talked to me like I was stupid.

“I'm getting so frustrated about it.”

A spokesman for DWP said: “If residents had filled their green wheelie bin with rubbish due to not receiving their new rubbish bin, we emptied the bin on their first rubbish collection so they could then use it for recycling.

“We cannot empty rubbish on a recycling week. We would not expect anyone to manually empty their bin themselves, especially if they would have difficulty doing so.

"We aim to ensure all customer service staff are fully trained on the service policy.

“If incorrect advice has been given we apologise and we will look to provide staff with additional training if necessary.”

‘Bins aren’t big enough’

A GRANDMOTHER from Weymouth has slammed the Dorset Waste Partnership after she was refused a larger bin and was told to take her rubbish to the tip.

Theresa White, who lives on Radipole Lane, said she was given the advice after applying for a bigger refuse bin following the roll out of the multi-million pound waste disposal scheme in the borough.

Mrs White said she applied for the bin as she lives with her husband, Terry, her two children Kayleigh and Chloe, and Kayleigh’s two young children, who both wear nappies.

She says the family naturally create a lot of landfill rubbish because of the number of people who live under one roof, but she was now at her ‘wits’ end’ with the service.

Although she supported the recycling drive and said the family recycles as much as possible, she criticised the DWP for not helping her – even though she has called the help centre numerous times.

She says call handlers were at times rude and told her to “take her rubbish to the tip”.

Mrs White said: “Right from the very start I have been all up for the recycling, I think it’s brilliant we are not burying all of this rubbish, but because I have six people in my home with four adults and two young children we requested a bigger bin.

“The bin size is just not big enough. We have got a week to go until collection and it is already full.

“A week ago they said I could have a blue plastic bag to put my rubbish in, but the seagulls will just rip it apart. And then when I asked when the blue bags would be delivered, they said they couldn’t say exactly when they would but that it was a high priority for them.

“I have found them to be quite unhelpful when you speak to them, sometimes rude.

“I have been on the phone to them quite a few times and twice they asked me if I have transport, and when I said yes, they told me I should take my general rubbish to the tip and the glass bottles to a bottle-bank.”

Mrs White said she offered to pay for the new bin and collect it, but was told that was not possible by DWP.

She added: “I have called and called, I have applied for a larger bin and then I get told to go and take the rubbish to the dump.

“All I want is a bigger bin. We all work, we all pay our taxes but it makes you think what do we pay our council tax for?

“I’m at my wits’ end.”

A DWP spokesman said Mrs White should have been given a larger bin and said the partnership would look at giving customer service staff more training if necessary.

The spokesman said: "The new service is designed to be flexible.

“Households of five or more can request a larger rubbish bin and families with children in disposable nappies can receive extra rubbish sacks. If households meet the criteria, this is what they should receive.

"We wrote to all households in April and May explaining how to request different containers by the deadline of June 19.

“We are unable to make changes requested after this date until after the service has started.”

An ‘eyesore’ in the streets

BINS piling up in a Weymouth street have been branded an ‘eyesore’.

Rubbish bags have been dumped in St Mary Street and have been deemed a bad advert for the town centre in half term.

Sue Warr from the Bag Shop in St Mary Street said she tried to call Dorset Waste Partnership but was unable to get through so had left a message with Environmental Health.

Around 15 black bags were piled up around the two bins, Mrs Warr said, some of which had been ripped open by the seagulls.

She said: “It just looks awful.

“The town was absolutely full yesterday with people and we have Freaky Friday and Freaky Streets. It’s just a nightmare.

“It’s not a good advert at all for Weymouth.”

She added: “It’s definitely an eyesore. It doesn’t portray Weymouth in a good light.”

A spokesman for Dorset Waste Partnership said they had received a number of complaints about the fly-tipping on St Mary's street.

The spokesman said: “We think it is household rubbish from the nearby flats.

“Previously, they had a weekly rubbish collection on Wednesdays and Thursdays but now they have now changed to fortnightly on a Friday and the residents have not read the information and are still putting their rubbish out for the weekly collection.

“We have received some complaints regarding this and we sent a team out first thing this morning to clear it up.

“We will also visit the local residents to inform them of the change and to hand out seagull-proof bags, plus inform them about the bag and box collection, and hopefully it will see the problems reduce.”