Reader letter: Blue bins area in our part of town has just become a fly-tipping zone

I’m writing this letter because of a multi-year problem that Environmental Services are not sorting out.

A problem which affects 33 homes in a small area.

This is a major problem which, in my opinion, the council refuses to rectify.

As you know, Osberton View is a street containing three blocks of flats.

Each block has three blue recycling bin pods.

Basically, it’s the same blue bins for every other house in Worksop.

Since these bins were installed several years ago so that the residents can recycle their waste along with the neighbouring houses, the bins have not been emptied on a regular basis.

Osberton View is a fly-tipping zone for anything and everything, from grass cuttings, kitchen appliances, sofas, even entire bathrooms (baths included).

The blue bins on Osberton View, because they’re open to the public, and because they’re in a fly-tipping zone, they are always contaminated with items that should not go into them. I have seen hosepipes, glass bottles, food, polystyrene and many more things in them.

When the blue bins were fitted, they were emptied regularly, for the first month.

Then the only way for them to be emptied was for someone to report them to Environmental Services.

In this case, I am the only one that reports them. I know this, because I tested it.

I went two months without reporting the bins, and no-one from Environmental Services came to inspect them, until I gave up and returned to reporting them.

For years now, I am the only person ringing up Environmental Services to report them.

And not every time someone came out to deal with the bins.

Because of how long and how many times I’ve been in touch with them, they know me quite well.

One of the managers knows me in person as he’s been out to my home at least twice.

Whenever the bin trucks go round emptying the bins, they have one person walking ahead of the truck.

This person lifts the lids to check and see what’s inside.

If they find the wrong stuff inside the bin, they either hang a tag on the handle or put a sticker on the lid or whatever.

The bin then doesn’t get emptied.

This is common practice and apparantly is done to speed up the rate that the bins get emptied.

No binman takes even one step down Osberton View. I found out that for a long time,

Osberton View was removed from the regular bin collections, and not put on any other rota.

On October 23rd, after ringing them up, I was informed that Osberton View was put back onto the regular round, which means the bin men should step down Osberton View, check the bins, and if they see that they can’t empty the bins due to contamination, they should report it to their office.

Apparently, despite being on a round, no binman comes down Osberton View, unless it’s to empty the large general waste bins every Tuesday.

Over the years, I have been given one excuse after another, yet nothing gets done unless a member of the public reports them, and like I said before, even that is no guarantee that the bins will get emptied.

Several times I’ve reported the bins and they didn’t get emptied until I report them again.

Also, the blue bins cannot be removed because they have to be there by law.

Recently, whilst reporting to Environmental Services, I told them that this is the last time I will be reporting this problem to them, as I’m now well and truly fed up with them.

Because of this, I bet that the bins will never get emptied, unless they finally get doing what they should be doing, and sorting out the bins on a regular basis.

In all of this, I have no idea what other blue communal bins are like in other areas of Worksop or surrounding towns.

Unhappy resident

Osberton View

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