People taking black bags to a city waste tip face being turned away if they refuse to have them checked for recyclable rubbish.
Workers at the baling plant in Llansamlet have been asking visitors to open up their rubbish bags.
Swansea Council said the initiative was part of a trial aimed at helping it reach its target of recycling 52 per cent of waste by April next year.You couldn’t make it up, could you?
A Swansea Council spokesman said: "The council is trialling a recycling initiative at the main civic amenity site to help boost the overall recycling rate in Swansea.
"Any visitors that arrive with black bags have been asked if they would like to participate.
"If they agree, we take their black bag waste away and remove any recyclable materials after they have left the site.
"Anyone that does not wish to participate is given the option of taking the waste away and sorting through it themselves."The proverbial ‘offer you can’t refuse’.
I presume if you do take it away and sort through it yourself, they’ll still demand to inspect it, to make sure you’ve done it right?
12 comments:
Not that this will increase fly-tipping, or anything like that...
I have run into these jobsworths before and simply either ignore them or leave the bags at their feet with the instruction "get on with it then". I draw the line at being hectored by a binman.
Just to add to what Curmudgeon said the real "ace card" the f-ing idiots play, after promoting policies to actively encourage fly-tipping, is to then, as they do hereabouts, send out letters explaining that should you are a council tax-payer suffer the inconvenience of some complete bar-steward come and fly tip on your property or the alley-way behind or beside it, well DP PLEASE report it to the council, because they take fly tipping very seriously and actively pursue those who do it via their specially established and specially equipped with cars with all sorts of recording equipment and gizmo's van anti-fly-tipping squad (evidence of the "success" of which is conspicuous by the absence of any reported prosecutions in the local rags whereas evidence of its failings can be spotted throughout the borough on any day BUT when it comes to having the fly-tipped crud removed, well, sorry, but if it isn't on Council maintained land or property, it is down to you the householder to foot the bill for clearing it up.
Dare I suggest that the reason there's no effective action against fly-tipping is that much of it is done by the, ahem, "travelling community"?
I usually tend to agree with most of what I read in your blog Julia, but I fail to see the problem here. They're not forcing the person with the bag to do any sorting, just to hand over the bag for the council jobbies to do it. Which is what we pay them for anyway, isn't it?
Bag up your trash, after having removed all identifying articles, drive to you local councillor's house and lob it in the front garden.
Job done.
If they want to go through it they should. But I suspect the answer to petty jobsworths turning people away is just to go and dump the rubbish in the nearest river.
Or on the manicured lawn of your local town hall...
Buy a dozen eggs. Leave them in a nice sunny spot for a month or so. Before tying off the bag, put a couple in there. Insist council jobsworths do the sorting. Fun for all.
"Dare I suggest that the reason there's no effective action against fly-tipping is that much of it is done by the, ahem, "travelling community"?"
Nail/head interface!
"...but I fail to see the problem here. They're not forcing the person with the bag to do any sorting, just to hand over the bag for the council jobbies to do it. Which is what we pay them for anyway, isn't it?"
Do you think this doesn't come with added hectoring and public humiliation, then?
From the article: ""I have never seen anything like it before, it upset me and other people there as well," said the woman, who did not want to be named.
"When I got there I was told to hand my black bags to men to check through to see if there was anything which could be recycled.
"They have got to go through each individual bag — there were sanitary towels and nappies in some people's bags.
"I said to them that it was disgusting but they value their jobs — particularly in this day and age.
"It saddened me to see people having to do that.
"My objection is why should they be expected to put their hands in bags of filth?""
It's a fair point, no?
Unless Swansea Council has a pristine record of recycling 100% of recyclable waste already collected then this is utter hypocrisy.
I suggest residents find out and then indulge in some hectoring and humiliating of their own at the next public meeting.
Quite a lot of Swansea should be recycled!
xX Kevin said...
I usually tend to agree with most of what I read in your blog Julia, but I fail to see the problem here. They're not forcing the person with the bag to do any sorting, just to hand over the bag for the council jobbies to do it. Which is what we pay them for anyway, isn't it? XX
My thoughts entirely, but you beat me to it.
Just WHERE is the problem here?
EXCEPT something else does not make sense;
XX "If they agree, we take their black bag waste away and remove any recyclable materials after they have left the site. XX
But;
XX "When I got there I was told to hand my black bags to men to check through to see if there was anything which could be recycled.
"They have got to go through each individual bag — there were sanitary towels and nappies in some people's bags. XX
So which is it then?
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