Council meeting hears of rat concerns over Blackpool bin changes

A Blackpool resident raised concerns at a council meeting about the three-weekly bin collection and food caddies – and said it was leading to an increase in rats around people’s homes – including his own.

Brian Roberts, who is also chairman of Brunswick PACT (Police and Community Together) group, spoke at Blackpool Council’s latest full council meeting about some of the problems residents in the Brunswick ward have been experiencing with the bin arrangements introduced in April this year.

The new food waste service is part of the government’s Simpler Recycling initiative, where all councils are encouraged to work towards a recycling target of 65% by 2035.

The new system includes three-weekly cycle bin collections (instead of two weekly) for domestic waste, glass, plastic, paper and card; brown bins instead of brown sacks and homes with wheeled bins receiving a 7-litre indoor kitchen caddy, a 23-litre outdoor food waste bin, with weekly collections.

Mr Roberts says that because the grey bins are being left an extra week to be collected, households with bigger families or special health requirements were seeing their bins get full quicker, leading to sanitary issues. Food bins were another concern, with more incidents of fruit flies and maggots.

And he said it has seen an increase in back bags dumped in alleys – and a worrying rise in the number of rats on people’s properties which had also been noticed by bin men.

But Cllr Jane Hugo, Deputy Leader of the Council (Place) and Cabinet Member for Climate Change, said the bin arrangements were proving a success, with more Blackpool residents recycling than ever before. She said some people needed help in using the bin system properly but support was there for them.

She also challenged “unverified reports” of an increase in rats and said any incidents involving vermin needed to be reported to the council so it could investigate properly.

Mr Roberts said: “I’m here representing the residents of Brunswick ward and others and to convey their frustration at the three weekly bin collections and the food waste bins.

“If I might give a couple of examples. One of our residents with a family of five has a disabled teenager who has to wear incontinence pads. He complains that his bins are full after a week.

“When I brought this matter up with a member of the council he said they were not disposing of the pads neatly enough.

“Residents of Danesbury Place and Buchanan Street, where the communal bins are kept in an alley, are finding bins full of other people’s rubbish.

“There are a few houses with masses of black bin bags piled up in the back gardens because there is nowhere else to put them.

“When there was a rubbish amnesty in Brunswick, over seven tonnes of rubbish were collected. That figures alone should tell you that three-weekly bin collections are not working.

“A recent PACT meeting which residents said they were finding maggots in the food waste bigs and there are swarms of fruit flies everywhere.

“Then we get to the complaints about the rats. I’ve lived in the same property most of my life and I’ve never seen a rat there until a few weeks ago. Now I’ve found three of them.

“Even the bin men are seeing a huge rise in the rat population. One friend who works on the bins said they saw three or four a day – now its thirty or forty. And this of course raises concerns about public health, especially for ENVECO personnel.

“What’s all this for? So we can hit some arbitrary recycling targets which Wyre and Fylde don’t have. Residents of Blackpool aren’t worried about targets, they just want their bins emptied every fortnight like the rest of Fylde and Wyre.”

These concern were echoed by another speaker, Will Banks, who said: “Three-weekly bin collections were a local decision – the council therefore should be prepared to assess the consequence of that decision.”

Cllr Jane Hugo, who has overseen the new waste system in Blackpool, said: “I want to respond clearly and put those concerns into context.

“This Labour-led council is delivering on its promise for a cleaner, greener Blackpool and the evidence from shows progress.

“Since April round 57,000 properties have moved to a significantly different system. There have been some operational issues during implementation but that does not mean it is failing.

“The evidence tells us that residents are embracing the changes.

“Between April and July, residents separated more than 5,800 tonnes of food waste, garden waste, paper, card and mixed recycling.

“With regard to food waste, there is a very practical benefit to weekly food waste collections. Previously, food waste could be sat in grey bins for up to two weeks.

“Now it is actually collected every week – that means it’s removed more frequently and it frees up space in the grey bin, which makes it easier for families to manage food waste hygienically.

“But collection is only part of the solution. Education matters. Clearly there are some people whom we need to reinforce the message to in relation to the importance of the changes to recycling and the environment and provide practical advice about using and storing their food caddies.

“Also with the residual waste moving to three weeks, particularly in relation to the hygienic disposal of nappies. This kind of support will help to reduce smells, flies and contamination.”

She said the “binfluencer” campaign saw trusted local voices sharing practical advice to help residents make the new system work.

Cllr Hugo added: “I want to address the claims about rats. If residents are seeing rats we want to know where and when so the council can investigate. But an unverified report is not evidence of a widespread rat problem caused by the new collection system.

“We should deal in facts, investigate properly and act where there is a problem.”