Waste chaos reigns in the Cotswolds

10:00am Wednesday 2nd July 2008

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By Emma Tilley »

RESIDENTS resorted to dumping rubbish at Cotswold District Council offices as tempers flared amid the launch of the unpopular new waste scheme.

The waste chaos became too much for some residents who decided to take matters into their own hands and dump their uncollected rubbish with the council.

One Cirencester resident described it as "a fiasco from the onset causing utter confusion and mayhem for the residents."

The entire scheme was delayed from April when CDC's contractors failed to deliver the new bins on time.

Since the launch things have gone from bad to worse and complaints have varied from the increase of collection lorries to the amount of rubbish strewn across the streets.

Some households are still waiting for the new bins and have been leaving their black bin bags out for collection only to find them still on the kerbside.

Cotswold streets are being used as a dumping ground for the excess waste which won't fit in the bins and which the council is refusing to collect.

A SITA employee branded the situation a "disaster" as more agency staff have been employed to cope with the extra collections.

He said: "On the first day the collectors had to go back three times to Cricklade from the North Cotswolds to empty the load. God knows what it is costing in diesel."