Issue is not just black and white (From Stroud News and Journal)

Issue is not just black and white

A MIXTURE of black bags and white bags of rubbish has resulted in an absurd grey muddle for Stroud's refuse collectors.

Every Tuesday morning residents in Lower Street watch incredulously as two dustcarts squeeze down the narrow road - one to collect the white bags and one to collect the black.

Both dustcarts belong to the same company and the situation is making some people see red.

"Here we have a situation where a supposedly green council has managed to double the number of dustcarts covering this patch," said an exasperated Timothy Harrison of Picadilly Mill.

He said there was a mixture of residential, arts and industrial premises along the street which meant the black bin bags and white bags for commercial waste were being piled together.

But bin men sift through the stack of sacks taking only those with the right colour code.

"There's an absurd grey area at the moment about who's responsible for what," said Mr Harrison.

And he added: "The district council says it isn't responsible for commercial waste but it does have a responsibility in terms of the environment. It's responsible for keeping rubbish off the streets and it is responsible for awarding the contract."

Both trucks are operated by different branches of the same company, SITA, and Carlos Novoth, Stroud District Council's environmental contracts manager, said it was up to the company how many trucks it used so long as it fulfilled it contract.

He stressed the council was not obliged to collect commercial waste but offered the service to keep prices low for local business.

Mr Novoth asked Lower Street residents to be patient and said the situation would be resolved when the new waste disposal contract comes into effect at the beginning of the financial year.

"It's only a short-term situation until the end of this month," he said.

And he promised: "From April whatever commercial and domestic waste is collected by Stroud District Council and its contractor will be collected by the same truck."