Waste of effort?, Teesdale Mercury

Waste of effort?

Feb 26, 2003

MISSED recycling box collections meant people were putting recyclable material in with their regular rubbish, Etherley Parish Council heard.

Clerk, Alison Overfield, had been “barraged” with complaints about the new collection service, including missed collections and dropped litter.

People were ringing Teesdale Council to find out why their boxes had not been collected and were being told to put their recyclable material in with the general rubbish, said Coun Martin Clark. “Teesdale Council are saying they’re not really bothered and they just have to meet a target,” he said. “People are now saying they’ve had enough and are using the boxes for something else.”

Dave Gaster, the project manager for the new wheelie bins, told the Mercury this is not what he expected people to be told and he was not aware that anyone was telling people this.

“I really want this recycling to happen big time,” he said. “We were embarrassed a little in the first two weeks, when we had more material than we expected. But we’ve increased our resources, we’re still struggling, but we should get every collection now.”