The recycling revolution has arrived \u2013 but for some residents, East Herts Council\u2019s (EHC) new waste collection system has brought no new bins, just confusion and frustration.<\/p>\n
Monday (August 4) is \u201cB-Day\u201d as households in Bishop\u2019s Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and the rest of the district can start using their three new containers to help meet the Government\u2019s \u201csimpler\u201d recycling policy launched in March.<\/p>\n
Residents started receiving the purple-lidded bins, for non-recyclable waste, and two food caddies \u2013 a brown one for outdoors and a smaller green one for the kitchen \u2013 from June 9 with strict instructions not to use them until the three-weekly collection schedule officially came into effect today.<\/p>\n
But while some residents had concerns about their streets being turned into \u201cbin cities\u201d, others are living in a bin desert as their new equipment has failed to materialise.<\/p>\n
On Friday the Indie asked on its Facebook page whether August the 4th would be Bindependence Day or a bin fire \u2013 and your responses revealed a mixed bag.<\/p>\n
The comment that attracted most \u2018likes\u2019 came from Graham Brick, of Anglesey Close, Bishop\u2019s Park, who reported that all his bins, stickers and detailed instructions had arrived.<\/p>\n
Purple-lidded bins in Trinity Way. Picture: Nicola Mifsud<\/p>\n
\u201cTook a bit of reading and bin adjusting, pleased that soft plastic is now included, lucky to have enough space for all the bins not to get in the way,\u201d he said. \u201cForgetting the politics of recycling, I think so far EHC have done a good job in this transition \u2013 it just needs a small bit of effort from the occupier to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
But across the town, as well as in Sawbridgeworth and rural areas, not everyone was as well placed.<\/p>\n
On the Parsonage estate, some streets had all of their new bins while others were still waiting. A truck turned up in Manston Drive on Thursday with purple bins but the workers told neighbours they had been specifically ordered. Houses in the road finally received their purple bins and food waste caddies on Saturday.<\/p>\n
In Hadham Road, it\u2019s a similar picture. Pam Baraud said: \u201cSent four emails since the beginning of July and finally got a reply a few days ago, so here\u2019s hoping I get my new purple-lidded bin within the next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indie reporter Chris Carter with his newly delivered purple-lidded bin on the Parsonage estate<\/p>\n
Nicky Robson said that the Twyford Road, Twyford Close and Hugh Villas streets still had no purple or food waste bins. She has been in regular email contact with the council in July. Last Tuesday (29th) she called and was told, after waiting 50 minutes for an answer, she should receive her bins last week.<\/p>\n
She said on Friday: \u201cToday my neighbour called them as still no bins received and was told that as our collection on Tuesday is to be mixed recycling (now black bin), if we\u2019ve not separated it and it\u2019s still all in the blue bin then we are to put a note on the blue bin stating that it has not been sorted due to the [purple] bin not yet delivered and they should collect it. Apparently they are only telling people this if they call!\u201d<\/p>\n
Samantha Read in Rhodes Avenue said: \u201cStill haven\u2019t received our bins. Three emails and a trip to the council office later and they assure me that we will receive our bins before the new recycling scheme starts. We shall see…\u201d<\/p>\n
In Stansted Road, Lara Horrax had received instructions about the new collection arrangements, but there was one problem: \u201cNone of our road have any bins. Honestly a joke. Useful as a chocolate teapot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some residents are still missing their new bins despite repeated attempts to call the council. Cate Dalton Wilson in Albury Place said: \u201cI\u2019ve called EHC twice and both times have been told the bins are on the way. Not sure what to do next week if they haven\u2019t arrived and no advice on the council\u2019s website last time I checked.\u201d<\/p>\n
East Herts Council\u2019s new waste and recycling collection plans<\/p>\n
On St Michael\u2019s Hurst, Neha Murie, of Westwood Place, said: \u201cI\u2019ve called the council three times and emailed four\u2026 no further forward and, to be quite frank, the council couldn\u2019t care less! Given they\u2019ve had over a year to sort this out, it\u2019s pretty poor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenny Miles moved into a new build on the estate on July 18. She said: \u201cOrdered bins about 10 days earlier and haven’t received anything. I happen to have a blue-lidded bin that I brought with me but nothing else. I put general rubbish out on collection day just in bin liners and it was collected. Otherwise my poor parents are taking it and putting it in their bins\u2026 which are now very full!\u201d<\/p>\n
And another St Michael\u2019s Hurst resident, Sophie Smith, of Carlton Way, said that she was having new bins delivered that already contain fly larva. \u201cEven inside the sealed envelope inside my new brown caddy is so gross!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Simone Murray branded the system a \u201cjoke\u201d, having no black bin \u2013 which, under the new scheme, has been repurposed from general waste to mixed recycling (apart from paper and cardboard) \u2013 despite requests and some of her Cannons Mill Lane neighbours being without any of the new bins.<\/p>\n
In Sawbridgeworth, Gemma Felstead, of Woodward Gardens, said the food waste bin she had delivered was broken and the new one would not arrive in time for the next collection. \u201cTold to just put food waste in general bin until it does. Reported online 30 June. No record when called 28 July despite receiving email confirmation of my report.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Green Tye, near Much Hadham, Emma Riedo was waiting for her replacement black bin as she has two purples. \u201cHad to email the council again today. From our local chat group, the residents of South End in Perry Green still don\u2019t have their new bins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robyn Lloyd is another resident with a surplus purple bin, having been given one to replace her black bin two years ago, but no black bin. \u201cHave been chasing the council since March,\u201d she said. \u201cHave been promised each week since the new purple bins arrived that the extra purple bin will be taken and a black bin provided. Still nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some wished they had been given reminders about repurposing their current bins. Elaine Sedgwick said: \u201cAll set in Pleasant Road and have sorted through the blue bin as there was no reminder to keep it to paper and cardboard following the last collection a couple of weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Julia Walsh commented: \u201cWe\u2019re doing the bin Hokey Cokey, putting things in and taking them out again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local Reform UK liaison officer Colin Woodward, who used to live in Stortford and now lives in Norfolk, took a swipe at the council\u2019s administration: \u201cReads like the Greens and Lib Dems have asked their supporters to post praising their new rainbow bin service.\u201d Rhian Capener responded: \u201cMaybe we really do like the new bin service? Not everything has to be scoring political points!\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI\u2019m really pleased to be able to recycle so much more than before and also to have the weekly waste food collection. I don\u2019t envisage problems with the non-recyclable waste bin collection moving to three-weekly either as previously our waste bin was often only half full on collection day, and under the new system we will need to use it less.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thorley Park, Hannah Stockwell, who has all her bins in Larchwood, said: \u201cI was stressing about it to start with, but now I\u2019ve got my head round it all, it\u2019s fine. The mixed recycling takes most stuff, and the food is collected weekly. Lucky enough to have space for the bins. Had to buy a different cat litter to try and cut down the amount used as it\u2019ll only be collected every three weeks. I feel for people who have babies in nappies, as every three weeks will be rank.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her fellow Thorley Park resident, Annie Sampford, of Barley Hills, had no complaints as she has all the bins, information and stickers. But she was not totally content. The handle locking mechanism on the brown food bin does not work properly and the bags provided for her kitchen food caddy were a \u201cstrange size and very flimsy, not worth using\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cIt\u2019s a shame that after what must have been considerable planning and expense there doesn\u2019t appear to have been enough consideration or testing of vital kit! Hopefully in the fullness of time the new system will bed in and we\u2019ll all be recycling more efficiently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edward James said: \u201cI mean…it\u2019s just not that big a deal. I\u2019m just glad I no longer have to traipse into town with soft plastics and these are taken away to be recycled as part of the normal service.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Havers estate, Hannah Bowyer, of Piggotts Way, was all set for the new system. \u201cDon\u2019t see what all the fuss is about \u2013 all pretty self-explanatory,\u201d she said. \u201cGlad to not have to take soft plastics with me when I do the shopping anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jo Kavanagh had some advice that is relevant to every single household: \u201cReduce your waste to start off with. I remember when a household of six had only one bin and it was never a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the last word to Prosenjit Sanjay Kumar: \u201cWaste not want not. Finally there is something different to talk to neighbours about apart from glorious British summer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The recycling revolution has arrived \u2013 but for some residents, East Herts Council\u2019s (EHC) new waste collection system…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[25235,1397,25234,90,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-44206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-bishops-stortford","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-sawbridgeworth","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}