Residents ‘swimming in rubbish’ after a month with no recycling collection

Lewis Smith, local democracy reporter

Residents living in a small cul-de-sac say they have been left “swimming in rubbish” after month long waiting times between their recycling collections.

People living in Richmond Street in Neath say their lives are being made difficult due to piles of rubbish building up on the pavements outside their homes caused by what is described as inconsiderate parking that leaves the council’s recycling lorry unable to access them.

It has recently led to a situation where residents were left for more than four weeks without the recycling being collected from their doorsteps with piles of boxes and bin bags seen lining the small street.

Collection

While Neath Port Talbot Council say a collection has since been carried out at the location home-owners have described the ongoing and frustrating situation they say often leaves them unable to walk on the pavements.

Charlotte Mcnaught has lived in Richmond Street with her children for a little over seven years now and said she and other locals are at their wits’ end with it.

She said: “This problem has been going on back and forth for years but this is the worst it has been with us going four weeks without a recycling collection.

“We’re just swimming in rubbish when it gets to that point. The outside is full, the inside is full, and we can’t walk on the pavements. It’s really difficult and we would like to see something done.

“They’ve said the issue is with cars parking on the corner leaving them unable to get round to pick it up in the bigger lorry. If that is the case we would like to see the authority act by potentially by putting a bollard on the corner to stop people parking there and stopping the problem altogether.”

James Jones also lives on the street and added: “We’ve been four weeks up until now with the rubbish piling up outside the houses and we are starting to worry that it will attract rats.

“They used to come down the street and take it up to the van but now they’ve stopped doing that. In fairness to the bin men they are brilliant and it isn’t their fault if they can’t access the street.

“We need measures put in place to deal with the parking and we’ve asked for something like double yellow lines so we know they will be able to get down here. It is a constant problem and its only getting worse.”

Frustrations

A spokesman for Neath Port Talbot Council said: “We share the frustrations of residents in Richmond Street as our collection vehicles have been unable to obtain access recently due to inappropriate parking.

“However we have now managed to collect waste from the street. We would appeal to motorists to be considerate when on-street parking particularly on recycling collection days.

“After suffering access issues we try to re-visit at the end of shifts to collect residents’ recycling but the success of this still depends on considerate parking. Recycling wagons are heavy and wide so our drivers need to be certain they can safely travel down a street and manoeuvre before entering.”