Folowing the comment from RR1 yesterday:
I hope with Christmas at the end of the week that they WILL collect extra rubbish. Only on my calender it states they WILL NOT collect any extra rubbish except flattened cardboard.
we asked for clarification from Rochford District Council and got the following response, which we publish (with permission):
Dear Councillor Black,
.
Thank-you for your enquiry concerning Waste Collections over the Christmas period.I can confirm that we do not collect any excess side waste over the Christmas period except for flattened cardboard, as stated on our recycling calendar. Weather and road conditions have recently disrupted our service and we are prioritising the collection of non-recycling this week. Weather permitting, we will return to the publicised service and collection dates by Monday 27th December.
Recycling and food waste collections are due to take place on the usual days during the week commencing Monday 27th December. Non-recycling and food waste collections should take place the following week, as publicised, one day later than usual (Tuesday – Saturday). We will be back to the normal collection days by Monday 10th January.
We advise residents who find they have excess waste to visit the recycling centre for household waste in Castle Road, Rayleigh or to use one of the many bring bank sites located around the district. Locations and further information can be found on our website.
RDC placed adverts in the local papers last week headed “RDC “Christmas collection days”. Very helpful except all the dates relate to 3 January onwards and no mention of Xmas week at all. So I anticipate some confusion.
So instead of one refuse lorry collecting additional rubbish we have large numbers of cars travelling to and from the recyling centre in the name of reducing waste and pollution. Who in RDC approved this crackpot plan ?
That question should be answered by the person in charge of recycling – the Portfolio Holder for the Environment (including Parks, Open Spaces and Woodlands, Recycling, Street Scene and new Contracts ) – Cllr Mike J Steptoe.
Might be a suitable question for next Full Council from a member of the public or a councillor ( without the ‘crackpot’ included)
At the “Next Full Council”, which will be on 25 January, I understand that the Council Budget for 2011 will be agreed. (The known budget issues will most likely be every Cabinet Member’s answer to any question at the moment including the one above, anyway!!)
Only 375 residents responded to the Survey on the Budget (Cuts) which is surprising only around 0.5% of the population.
Is this because of a lack of engagement on behalf of the Council with residents? The Council assures me that this has been well publicised over three months using several channels of communication.
Or a lack of interest in Council surveys?
In which case why is this the case?
I thought we were always allowed to put excess recycling beside our wheely bins either in plastic bags or boxes. We were originally told we could also use our old blue bins for over-spill. The Christmas period should make no difference, we can put out excess recycling any time of the year.
Has there been a change in policy? If so, when were we going to be told?