Rat fears as yobs rip open bin bags
Monday 27th September 2010, 11:30AM BST.
Yobs kicked open uncollected bin bags in a Sedgley street leaving rotting rubbish strewn across the road and near to homes.
Residents in part of Bath Street woke up to find the mess on Saturday morning.
And they were left “absolutely disgusted” after being told by Dudley Council the mess would not be cleaned up until today.
They now fear rats and other vermin may be attracted by bags left uncollected on the street which have been torn open by yobs.
Bin bags filled with rubbish have been left on streets around the borough after changes to refuse collection which permits only three bags to be collected per home.
But the scheme has been criticised as deeply flawed as most residents traditionally pile up their bags in one part of a street rather than leave them outside their homes. And some of these are not being taken as binmen cannot be sure if they are from a single property and will not risk breaking the rules, it is claimed.
Robert Gibbons, aged 40, from Bath Street, said: “All of the rubbish has been left in the road right outside my house. I phoned the council but was told it would not be cleaned up until Monday.
“It is disgusting. With the bin bags left like this and the rubbish in the road we are really concerned about it attracting rats.
“People traditionally leave their bags piled up in this part of the street to make it easier for the binmen to collect them. But because of this new rule this is not being done which is why these bags were there for people to kick around.
“I told the council about the problem and they just said I should tell my neighbours to leave the bags outside their own homes.
“But why should I have to do this? It is not my responsibility to do so.
“I think people will soon start to question what they are actually paying their taxes for.”
Dozens of bags were left behind on the Priory and Kates Hill estates last week as the new restriction on bags was enforced.
Labour environment spokesman Zafar Islam says if “teething problems” persist the council should review its decision.
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I live in Sedgley and cannot understand why we dont get Wheelie Bins like in other parts of the West Midlands.
The bags are often left strewn outside houses and could attract all kinds of vermin… not to mention thieves rooting for bank statements etc.
We have now been given 2 coloured recycling bags and a black box that fills with water whenever its left outside as it has no lid…
In Sedgley many of the streets are narrow terraced houses so everyone usually puts bags in one large pile which the bin men will no longer take.
Jokers.
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They voted for the Conservatives to run their Council so, frankly, I think the people of Dudley are getting what they asked for.
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To John D…Get a life John D, get on with your council pen pushing job please.
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I drove past this on Saturday afternoon and noticed that it was rather a mess. I also noticed that probably dozens of black bags were left on the pavement, having not been collected. I though this was weird as Dudley Council are usually good at keeping up with collections. Maybe the residents should have taken the bags back in off the street. We all have undesirables living in our areas.
Also, clearly the residents weren’t that bothered otherwise they would have been out themselves to clear it up.
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why didnt you get out your car and clean it up
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I might have done if I had the time. I litter pick my whole estate of around 200 houses every two weeks anyway, so I look after my area.
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Obviously got nothing better to do with your time then…
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I work full time actually mate, it something I give back to my community.
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flawless tom where do you put the litter you have collected
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I live in Bath Street and found dirty nappies, empty boxes, chicken bones etc all around my car Saturday morning, I was absolutley disgusted by it. My partner rang the council and they wern’t bothered about it at all.
And Tom S – we are bothered becasue I actually picked up all this rubbish myself along with another neighbour, as we were concerned it would attract rats, aswell as the street looking like bay route.
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Don’t worry even the rats wouldn’t move into Bath St even if it looked like Beruit {bay route}!!
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One of the reasons why i left Sedgley-
the others….
House burgled
Car broken into
Wifes car stolen
Anti social morons
town full of takeways
just a general dump really
Good riddance Sedgley.
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I fail to see how this problem will not be repeated .
There are care homes and small buisness in the imeadiate vacinity that produce a larger quantity of refuge than the normal household. How can a 3 bag limit be affective if larger establishments can not disgard their trash without it being left on the street.
This will still attract rats as the bin bags must be stored somewhere.
Will Dudley council foot the bill for pest control? .
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cause they wont they are too busy spending money on getting the land back off the dudley muslim association.
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Care homes have to dispose of their rubbish differently to “Joe Bloggs” so the 3 bag rule does not affect them.
Small businesses, hotels, restaurants etc. usually have contracts with private companies such as Biffa.
Therefore, the public will have to insist to their nieghbours to leave their 3 bags outside their own house, and not group the rubbish collectively in one place.
Lastly, when all else fails Dudley Council will be advertising for a “Pied Piper” to address the rat issue and a “middle man” to act as a peace-keeper with warring neighbours!
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more people need to recycle. after all the council pick the bin recycle from your door steps. if more people recycled they would,nt need to put so many bags out. some people just can,t be bothered.i,m a busy working mom of 2 and i recycle
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recycling bins have to be on the pavement in Dudley and usually just thrown on drive after emptying …and dont get me started on the green bins
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and how do you know that people who have three bags are not recycling
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simple just get up with the times,the other councils all have wheelie bins and its more greener no more plastic bags,simple.
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Sory but we all need to get real – this is NOT the Council’s rubbish, it is ours – we buy the goods and we create the rubbish. We can all do more to reduce what we produce – we are just used to not bothering and assuming it’s someone elses problem.
Yes we pay Council Tax, but do you really think, especially with the current financial constraints, that Council’s can just keep taking away whatever we feel its OK to throw out???? Perhaps the changes could have been introduced better, but then again, there will always be those who just don’t want to recognise what’s right in front of their faces!
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I live in Tipton Rd, Woodsetton. Actually I have lived there for the last 14 years during which period I have paid my Council Tax on time and every time, like a lot of residents.
In that time the council always collected my domestic waste by entering the gates on my house and leaving me a fresh bag to use for the following week. This was done because the footpath outside my house is extremely narrow and it was felt dangerous to clutter up the footpath bearing in mind there is a blind bend in the road which could increase the risk of someone being hit by a car especially with bin bags blocking the pavement.
I was on holiday from 11th September to 18th September (thus missing the refuse collection on 16th September). When I arrived back from holiday I discovered that the power to the house had been cut off for 24 hours due to an unplanned outage. The contents of my freezer had to be thrown away with the refuse bags proving to be extremely useful.
On the collection day, Thursday the 23rd September, I returned to my house to find the refuse bags had not been collected. I telephoned your offices on Friday 24th September. After an extremely long period of time I managed to speak to one of your advisors. The person was extremely guarded but advised me that you were only doing kerbside collections and as such my refuse bags had not been picked up. I asked as to when this change had taken place as I had received no notification. The response was that this had been in the press and a leaflet had been placed in the refuse bags which had been left. I explained that no bags had been left and that as a council tax payer I would have expected a more formal notification well in advance of any such planned changes. I was advised that in view of the problems the changes had caused the refuse teams were doing another collection and if I could get my refuse bags as close to the road as I could the refuse would be picked up. The time was 11am.
I duly placed my 2 bags at the closest point to the road and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. Suffice it to say by 2pm when it looked like there was more chance of seeing Father Christmas than one of your refuse wagons I took it upon myself to suffer the long and arduous rigours of telephoning your help line. An hour later I managed to speak to one of your operatives and explained the situation. She apologised and advised me that as a result of receiving another official email it was apparent that the advice I had received at 11am was wrong and that if the team did not turn up by 3pm they would not be coming that day but would instead pick the refuse up on Monday 27th September. I was advised to put the refuse out, again, on Monday 27th September. I explained that I had real problems as I had nowhere to put the rubbish or indeed any bags to put the rubbish in. The lady was apologetic and told me that there was a chance that my bags had been stolen. Apparently, according to a member of your staff, people had been following your refuse crews around and as soon as bags had been left at a property the bags had been purloined. What bunch of idiots planned such a shambolic switchover! I was told not to worry as a new supply of bags would be delivered.
So on Monday 27th September I duly placed the bags out again at 6.45am, in the rain. Surprise surprise at 2pm there were still where I had left them. Wishing to punish myself further I again telephoned your help line (actually that is a contradiction of terms). Another 45 minute wait to be told that you were unsure as to which areas the crews were visiting but not to worry if they were not picked up on the day they would be picked up the next day, or maybe the day after. Again I explained that I was concerned that I had not received the sacred 26 bags and asked what the process was to ensure that I did actually take possession of these highly prized items. I was reliably informed that someone would have to sign for receipt of the bags. I asked what would happen if no-one was in……………..reply was they would leave them at the premises. That beggars belief, if you don’t mind me saying.
It is now Tuesday 28th September and the bags are still at the front of my drive. I have had to find a place to store my new refuse and I am looking forward to the next official collection on Thursday 30th September when I fully expect the 2 bags to be collected but any bags in excess of 3 to be left.
This is totally unacceptable and let me tell you I will remember this at the next council elections. You are elected representatives why don’t you start behaving like them .
I have a strong belief that you have switched from service providers to ruthless enforcers.
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FG, I hope you have sent this articulate appraisal to the council as an official written complaint? The council are obliged to reply to all complaints with valid reasons and resolutions, where applicable.
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