THE rollout of a new waste collection service has been described as "diabolical" by an angry resident after changes were made by the council.

Michael Marrs of Forrester Fold Farm - which is located off the A595 between Thursby and Red Dial - contacted the News & Star to raise concerns about Allerdale bin collections since a new waste and recycling system was introduced on April 1.

The changes made were as follows:

  • Purple bags - Having previously been used for glass, cans and plastics, these were removed during the switch-over
  • Green bins - Previously used for paper and card, these are now used for glass, cans and plastics

The problem arises with households who didn't have a green bin before the changeover and so have nothing to put their glass, cans and plastics in for collection.

One such property is that of Mr Marrs.

He said: "On April 1 we were supposed to get bins to put the glass, cans and plastic in, but nobody has got the bins.

"We have been on at them, but nothing ever happened. It is happening to the neighbours too, there is five of us in total."

Mr Marrs explained that he has a friend who has experienced similar problems but in Wigton town centre.

He continued: "Everybody is having the same bother, the rumour is there is a new company picking it up.

"They have this new system but nobody has the right bins.

"They turn up but drive away, that is the annoying thing." Mr Marrs added: "Council tax is going up and the service is going down."

Since being approached by the News & Star, Allerdale Council have since delivered a new green bin to Mr Marrs after he had been asking for more than a fortnight.

However, even with the correct bins Mr Marrs says they have still not been collected or collected on the correct day.

Mr Marrs says that his neighbours - Mr and Mrs Huntington - have not had their paper bin collected for seven weeks.

Similar problems have been reported by residents in Silloth and Aspatria, with scores of people alluding to the problem in the 'Silloth Today' and 'Aspatrias-Voice' Facebook groups.

A spokesman for Allerdale Council said: "Mr Marr's property is not typical as they do not have paper and card collections at the property, and so did not have a green bin to collect glass, cans and plastics once we stopped using the purple bags.

"We apologise to Mr Marrs for not providing him with a new green bin. Crews should be collecting waste in purple bags for the initial weeks of the new service, however we shall also provide Mr Marrs with a green bin."

The spokesman continued: "We introduced a new waste and recycling service on April 1, which saw completely new rounds, new vehicles and, for most residents, new collection days.

"This was done for a number of reasons including: the removal of the purple bags to collect glass, cans and plastics as they are single-use and cannot themselves be recycled; a new fleet of more environmentally-friendly vehicles with the latest in-cab technology; as well as financial savings.

"The new service maintains the weekly bin collection for household waste, with garden waste and glass, cans and plastic recycling continuing to be collected fortnightly. Paper and card collections changed to every four weeks (from fortnightly), and so we have delivered over 40,000 new bins which are twice the size of the original container.

"With 46,000 properties meaning potentially around 125,000 bin lifts a week it is perhaps inevitable that changes on this scale with new rounds and new vehicles, can result in some issues and we are working with our contractor FCC to sort these out as quickly as possible."

The spokesman added: "The majority of people who have contacted us, is in regards to a missed collection. We expect instances of missed collections to improve considerably over the next few days, as the crews familiarise themselves with the new rounds.

"When we are not able to make it to areas, crews are returning the next day and we ask all residents to just leave their bins out for collection - we are posting information on the areas affected on our website every evening. Residents can also check on our new online bin collection calendar whether the crews have been to their property in real time on their collection day. If crews have missed their bin for other reasons, they can report this to us on our online form at www.allerdale.gov.uk/bincollections.

"Finally we’d like to thank the people of Allerdale who have embraced the changes and for their patience whilst the new services overcome these initial issues."