Councillors were talking trash at the meeting of Sedgemoor District Council on Wednesday, after Labour called for tighter controls on street waste in Bridgwater. Following Councillor Alexia Bartlett’s comments on the growing piles of rubbish on the town’s pavements, both Somerset Waste Partnership and Sedgemoor will be taking further steps in the war on waste. Councillor Bartlett, Dunwear ward and Shadow Portfolio Holder for Communities and Wellbeing, said “Privately-owned Homes in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) do not appear to have adequate provision for storage of bins and recycling. As a result, there is a build up of rubbish on the streets and pavements, especially food waste in black bin bags, which is not sufficiently separated into recycling. This spills out, whilst cats and rats also rip into the bags. All in all, it’s a disgusting mess. Furthermore, not only is it a health hazard, it causes an obstruction so that wheelchairs, mobility scooters and prams are forced out onto the road. How is Sedgemoor working with SWP to encourage private landlords into providing space for bins and recycling?”
St Johns Street has been noted as a rubbish-dumping hotspot, and in a statement responding to the meeting’s discussion, Sedgemoor said, “SWP will visit some properties which have been flagged up as having particular problems. This will be done face-to-face, with some educational work on the road via a variety of approaches, especially as some residents do not use English as first language. SDC’s Environmental Health Food Team will be visiting the food businesses over the next week or so to check they have a commercial waste contract in place. They will cover all the food businesses in St. Johns Street. SDC’s CCTV will monitor the black-bag build up. Signage will be put up to inform people what waste should go where. SDC’s Clean Surrounds team will continue to collect the ‘residential’ black bags, as they have been doing, as and when there is a build-up of bags. As with any other fly- tipped waste, bags are checked through for evidence. SWP will make sure all residents have what the need to be able to recycle. SWP will review whether any properties would benefit to a different approach for communal areas and will do additional pick-ups on Mondays, to clear the weekend accumulation.”
Dampiet Street is another area where one has to walk in the road because of pavements filled with rubbish bins.
Could we possibly have recycling bins in King Street? They could easily be situated behind O2, where there are currently double yellow lines where many cars park illegally. Recycling bins there would be well used as many of us have no recycling facilities.