Bamford & Norden August 2021

Household Waste
A Need for Consistent Policy?
Throughout the pandemic and
in every part of our Borough,
one plague has either remained
constant, or increased its impact
– Fly-Tipping.
In any areas where there are no CCTV cameras
installed, abandoned, and discarded kitchen
cabinets, vehicle tyres and wheels and domestic
appliances have become regular finds. hy
is this the case? Part of the answer may lie in a
story recounted to me recently.
In common with many residents forced to stay
at home, our family decided to invest in some
new and buly home furnishings. oncerned
that the packaging from the new items, along
with the existing furnishings were bulky waste,
the family borrowed a trailer which could
accommodate the waste and set off for the
waste disposal facility at hichester treet.
Imagine the surprise of the family, when, upon
reaching the facility, they were told they could
not carry their discarded items into the tip as
this contravened policy. owever, undaunted,
the family decided to take their items to the
commercial facility a mere few hundred yards
up the road. here, the family were told that,
despite having a valid utility bill, they could not
enter the facility because they did not have
a full array of personal protective equipment
hard hat, hi-vis jacet, and protective footwear.
Completely frustrated in their efforts to
dispose of waste responsibly, the family retired
homeward and phoned Rochdale ouncil.
The lady of the house explained the nature of
their difficulty and was told that the ouncil
would collect specified additional items on the
familys usual bin day for a charge of . for
the first three items and then per additional
item, strictly on the basis that only the specified
additional items were left out.
his charge lead to the first and obvious
question which was - why, when the family pays
Council Tax which includes an element for waste
disposal, were they being charged again?
Surely if a Local Authority wants to promote
responsible waste disposal, there is a need to
put in place a simple system with no financial or
policy hurdles for its charge payers to surmount?
Our Council spends very considerable sums
of the charge payers money every year on
collecting fly-tipped refuse and attempting to
prosecute those who indulge in such activity.
ow much does it cost to repatriate a fridge
freeer abandoned on a cairn on nowl ill
Is it sensible, instead, to use some of these
scarce resources to encourage most residents
who want to dispose of their waste at a no cost,
easily accessible facility?
Lockdown and the increasing number of
home deliveries were entirely predictable,
and everyone should do their bit to ensure
that waste is dealt with appropriately. lease
continue to report any fly-tipped debris that you
come across to our ouncil. opefully, as life
returns to something akin to normality, we can
persuade our Council to revisit this challenging
area of policy with a view to demonstrating
some joined-up thining in this crucial service.
Nigel Morrell
74
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