Temperatures rise over rubbish

However, the mean temperature is generally a reflection of the time of year and the flies are buzzing, as are the complaints on the doorstep as we work our way through Sackville ward for another by-election.

The question so often asked of us is 'What will you do about the twice weekly collection if elected?'

I had resolved not to talk about rubbish so early in the history of this column. However I was further prompted not just by the comments on the doorstep but by an advertisement carried in the Observer newspaper. A bin cleaning service which 'operates within a framework set out by the Environment Agency, local councils and water providers...' offers to clean your bin every two weeks for the sum of 2.50.

This raises a number of issues.

By offering support to this service surely the authorities are recognising that there is a problem with collection every two weeks.

The advertisement clearly runs on the assumption that leaving rubbish uncollected for two weeks encourages build up of smells and bacteria. We were assured at the launch of this current scheme that if the wheelie bins were used correctly bad smells, bacteria and vermin would not be a problem.

One of the arguments offered by local authorities on the limitations of the waste collection scheme has always been cost. It is my understanding that the actual cost to each ratepayer per week to have their rubbish collected is very close to the charge being made by the bin cleaning service. Perhaps therefore if this second amount was paid direct as part of the council tax, people would receive the service they really want. Is this not a type of unfair tax on those who can not afford the cleaning service, by barring them from receiving a full service?

I appreciate that part of the reasoning behind the current scheme in Rother is to encourage a reduction in the amount of waste produced. Liberal Democrats heartily agree with this and have always argued that through a variety of means, which has included bills in Parliament to reduce packaging, we should be aiming ultimately for zero waste through reuse, reduce and recycling.

However the Rother scheme is still not performing fully. Complaints continue in the columns of the newspaper and as I said above, are clearly being voiced. With the risk of boring you all, I will refrain from mentioning the non delivery of the full green bin service and the unsuitability of wheelie bins for some properties. I had the opportunity to discuss waste collection with the Chair of Hastings Borough Council at the time of their launch of a new service. He commented that he had been watching how Rother had done it and would not be doing it in the same way.

Rother is of course locked in to this unsatisfactory contract. I do hope however that as soon as it is possible to renegotiate, serious consideration is given to the provision. There is a clear need to learn from mistakes, mistakes also made up and down the country. There is also a need to address the extra trips being made by individuals to the household waste sites either because all materials are not collected for recycling from the doorstep or they do not wish their waste to sit in bins for two weeks or even more if they happen to be on holiday on the collection day and will not be there to put the bin out. These are matters needing consideration and then of course there is the sustainability of the bin cleaning man driving round in his white van.............