Councillors look at ways to tackle ‘totally unacceptable’ abuse of public bins

Public bins being abused in parts of South Pembrokeshire has been labelled ‘totally unacceptable’ this week, with County Councillors from the locality joining forces to formulate ways of tackling the issue.

Overuse of public bins, where more and more are being abused, often by those leaving holiday lets, and also by residents dumping domestic waste in the facilities, has seen issues of fly-tipping highlighted in seaside towns such as Tenby and Saundersfoot, and surrounding areas of South Pembrokeshire.

Following rising concerns over the matter, local County Councillors were invited to a meeting with Pembrokeshire County Council officers this month to see if they could agree a common approach to tackling the problem.

Following a meeting at Saundersfoot Harbour, Councillors decided to prioritise three areas of work for immediate attention.

Firstly, they will be trying to deal with holiday accommodation providers and agents incorrectly advising guests to dispose of rubbish in public litter bins.

Tackling residents dumping waste in public litter bins instead of using the household waste and recycling kerbside collection is also a priority.

Councillors are also looking to find ways of dealing with illegal and irresponsible waste carriers charging for collection, then later fly-tipping in public litter bins.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr. Rhys Jordan who reprsents the St. Mary Out Liberty (New Hedges) and St. Florenc wards said: “It was great to get around the table and have an open and frank discussion about the issues we are facing individually in our wards and collectively as an area.

“We all agreed that the way forward was to engage with communities via social media, local press, and community councils to encourage residents to report incidents and to ensure they know they will be supported if they do so.”

Concurring, Cllr. Sam Skyrme-Blackhall county councillor for Tenby’s South Ward, added: “There are lots of bins but they are supposed to be for street waste – litter generated whilst out and about.

“They are not designed for household waste. It costs a lot of money to run this service and it is not fair on Council Tax payers that people are abusing it!”

As part of the co-ordinated approach, Officers from PCC will meet with Town and Community Councils and Community Groups to discuss issues, share information and plan ways of tackling the problems.

Saundersfoot’s county councillor for the village’s South ward, Cllr Chris Williams said that further meetings were now planned and councillors had agreed to continue to work together and monitor progress.

Cllr Williams recently said that he was astonished to find that an organised litter-pick of Saundersfoot one Saturday morning last month saw ‘an incredible’ 39 sacks of rubbish collected by volunteers, in just the space of a couple of hours, mainly from roads and lanes outside the village centre.

He also said a discussion had come up recently with Saundersfoot harbour staff, and he was shocked to find out that the harbour collects over 11,000 bags of rubbish annually!

“I had another positive meeting with PCC and Head of Environmental Services along with supervisors operating in the area. Saundersfoot is blessed to have a dedicated team who regularly keep on top of the bins and streets of the village,” said Cllr Williams.

“It has become apparent however that a minority flaunt the rules and spoil it for everyone else. During the summer months there is a weight of two tons every day from the village bins.

“Unfortunately, some contaminate the recycling process which in essence, contaminates the whole bin.

“We also have the five steel oil drums on the slipway and it is a shame that these are abused daily. Numerous times locally, trade waste has been found when full bins have been ripped open to investigate. PCC staff have also caught local residents and holiday let apartments abusing the system,” he continued.

“I have another meeting with PCC and hope to have an officer from the licensing department to look at ways that holiday apartments/homes have measures in place to correctly dispose of their waste.

“It’s not up to the local residents to pay for this service, it needs to be a joined up approach with all parties so every holiday home/holiday let is accounted for,” remarked Cllr Williams, who went onto say that he recently challenged two persons emptying their waste into the bins.

“Both were on holiday with notes in their apartments telling them to place rubbish daily into the local bins. This is totally unacceptable for the local tax paying residents to have to pay for this service,” he explained.

“With cuts across the board this money could be better spent on services important to all residents. I have asked PCC not to put the bins back onto the slipway.

“We will look at alternatives in the village and on the harbour near the slipway, where we have had an excellent response to helping the situation.

“There is also the offer in the future that if this continues then potentially this area could be covered by CCTV. We have to find a better solution than the current one that is abused daily,” he added.

You can report fly-tipping via the link: www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/fly-tipping or by calling the dedicated fly-tipping line on: 01437 775253.