Residents of a village near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, have hit out at “appalling” waste accumulation after the local council left household waste to pile up for weeks after Christmas.
Villagers in Silkstone still haven’t had their brown recycling bins or garden waste collected by Barnsley Council, with the last collection date December 23.
Locals were told that grey bin collections were back on track this week after “additional resources” were funnelled into the system to tackle a “backlog” sparked by cold weather in early January that had a “huge knock-on effect”.
A spokesperson for the council said: “We’ve prioritised grey bin collections and we are now on schedule.
“We’ve also made good progress collecting recycling bins but we’re aware there are still many outstanding.
“We’ll be focusing on these more next week. Please leave any missed recycling bins out from Monday and we’ll come back as soon as possible.
“We’re working to catch up as quickly as possible but it is likely to be a couple of weeks before we are fully back to schedule with recycling collections.”
Diane Batty said that her 91-year-old mother’s bin was among those left to build up for six weeks after Christmas.
She told the BBC: “The workers are supposed to go and get her bin as she’s too frail to wheel it down her drive, but they can’t be bothered and only ever empty it once a month.
“It’s appalling given the astronomical council tax she pays.”
Other locals said they were worried about attracting rats and birds to their overflowing bins, which had leftover Christmas food including “rotten turkey carcasses”.
The local authority has proposed raising the council tax paid by Barnsley residents by 4.9% in the next financial year, meaning those living in Band D properties would pay an extra £87 each year.
The proposal, which will be considered in a February council meeting, was motivated by financial pressures amid increased day-to-day costs and a growing demand for services.
Locals demanded that compensation be paid out for the late bin collections, however, with many taking to social media to criticise the “embarrassing” situation.
“It’s disgusting!” Anna Butler said. “10 weeks since my brown bin [has] been emptied! I’d be in court if I didn’t pay council tax for 10 weeks!”
“How can you be behind on emptying bins?” Courney Allott asked. “It only snowed for a day and a half.”
Others described the late collection as “absolutely ridiculous”, “disgraceful” and a literal “load of rubbish”.
“The snow and extended period of freezing temperatures earlier this month meant we were unable to complete most scheduled collections during that week,” Councillor James Higginbottom told the BBC.
“This had a huge knock-on effect, due to the more than 115,000 scheduled collections each week, so it does take time for us to recover from delays.”
“We know it’s frustrating for residents when their bin collections are disrupted and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused,” he added.