York rubbish collection anger

11:01am Friday 26th May 2006

THOUSANDS of telephone calls from York residents frustrated with new waste collection pick-ups went unanswered in the wake of the scheme's launch, it was claimed today.

Coun Ruth Potter, Labour group environment spokeswoman on City of York Council, says that more than 37 per cent of callers were unable to get through to the York Pride Action Line in the second week of the authority's alternate waste collection scheme.

She claims that meant 2,567 callers out of a total of 6,879 were forced to abandon their attempts to speak to operators.

Data obtained by the Labour group reveals that the number of calls to the action line, which deals with customer inquiries about litter, the environment and graffiti, peaked at nearly 9,000 in the first week of the new scheme from, Coun Potter claims, "people furious at the way the alternative collection had been implemented".

On average, the York Pride Action Line receives about 1,300 calls a week. The Evening Press Bin It! campaign opposes the scrapping of weekly household refuse collections, which began last October, but supports recycling initiatives. More than 7,500 people have signed a petition backing our campaign.

Coun Potter said: "These figures are very revealing, and highlight the sheer scale of the mess the Lib Dems made of introducing the alternate weekly collections last year.

"As usual the Lib Dems pushed through one of their policies without proper consultation with the people of York and, as a result, the Action Line was swamped with confused residents calling to register their complaints or obtain information. The serious thing about this is that the Action Line is one of the Lib Dems' flagship policies yet thanks to their blundering many of the people ringing to report serious concerns such as abandoned cars or fly tipping as well as thousands of people with problems with their waste collection just would not have been able to get through."

Coun Andrew Waller, the council's environment chief, said: "Last week, the York Pride Action Line dealt with 1,893 calls - which is about average and indicates people are now used to the scheme.

"We have ensured that the relaunch has gone as smoothly as it can. There were some teething problems (last October), but people are more familiar with what they need to do and they accept it has made a big difference to their council tax bills."

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