Final (hopefully) update on refuse collection catch-up

All things being equal, this will hopefully be the final blog post from me about the refuse collection catch-up after our week of snow and ice. John Sandy, portfolio holder for this area, has been steadfast in his communications to councillors, and assurance of clear messages on the Waverley website. Here's his latest email:

The normal day collections have been proceeding as planned.However at the end of each day afew roads have not been completed due to the excessive volumes, in spite of the extra vehicle, but in every case the missed roads have been picked uo first thing the following day. If there are any unfinished roads by close of play on Friday, they will b e collected on Saturday. We anticipate normal collection arrangement to be in place onMonday 23feb.

The telephone calls to the team peaked during the period 2nd to 13th feb but have now returned to normal

I didn't realise it was so bad

Email's a great thing, and in many ways I've kept in touch with what's been happening even though I've been thousands of miles away in some pretty remote places.

But it wasn't really until I was home this weekend, that I could really envisage the difficult circumstances under which our public services have been operating, especially the rubbish and recycling collections. And it's been driven home to me by the number of emails from fellow members of the council who are sharing residents' frustrations at the lack of collection over the past week.


Whilst I can't claim to be able to solve the problem personally, I can promise to communicate and negotiate and influence as much as possible - so, if you do still have an outstanding collection issue in the ward, let me know, and I will find out as soon as I can about when you can expect it to be sorted.

NOTICE: Waste / Recycling Catch-up

Due to the snow, collections were interrupted. I've just received the below email notice of the plans to catch-up - which of course are subject to further weather interruptions!

Dear All, I am pleased to confirm that the operational arrangements we made yesterday were put into place at 0700hrs today, Wednesday , when all the vehicles left the depot. The arrangements are as follows:

Wednesday normal collection. Thursday normal collection, Friday normal collection. The missed Monday and Tuesday collections will be collected on SATURDAY 7 feb.

This information has been placed on the Radio,BBC Southern Counties, Eagle andDelta. and in the Surrey Advertiser and the Herald Group of newspapers. EXTRA side bags will be collected during this period.Some roads may remain unsafe and therefore collections will not be made.When new arrangements will be made and communicated over the radio . If no collection is made, or for further information please phone 01483 523524.

Best Wishes,
John

And snow...

From Mary Orton, this morning:

Dear Councillor

We are not able to run any refuse / recycling collection service today, as too few roads are passable. The web-site has been updated, and we are asking local radio stations to broadcast the information to the public.

Our plan now is to resume the service tomorrow. We will aim to run the normal service for the remainder of the week. People whose collections were missed today and yesterday (except for the most remote and isolated properties) will receive a catch-up service on Saturday. Obviously, this plan still does depend on what happens with the weather over the next few hours - any further heavy snowfall could still disrupt services further.

I shall keep you posted by email on service developments.

Kind regards

Mary

One week turned into two...

... as I realised how much I needed a rest with my family, and so my apologies to one and all that it's been almost two weeks since I last posted. It's been a lovely time with family in Herefordshire, and a deligth to watch Caleb (our 19 month old) make fast friends with Polly - the 14 year old Labrador -, and Barney - the 6 month old 'Springador' (as I believe they're called).

Returning home seemed so much sweeter after time away. However, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the amount of litter in the streets here in Wrecclesham. I suppose we were spoilt over the holidays, being a few miles from the nearest shop, but I really can't believe that just because we live close to a popular newsagents, we should suffer so much horrible rubbish - mostly sweet wrappers - quite literally covering the pavements.

Some months ago I experimented by announcing on this blog that I would be litter picking along Gardener's Hill Road. Well, it didn't turn out to the be roaring success I hoped, but that's probably more to do with the fact that my blog had 3 readers, one of whom was my mother-in-law in Herefordshire!

This time, I'm going to do it properly. Not sure how, but I'm going to try to organise a series of litter picking activities in the village, and tidy the place up a bit.

{And writing this has reminded me that I need to take a photo of the graffiti that has yet again appeared on the wall at the bottom of School Hill.}

Fixed / Variable?

Not your mortgage deal, but a little debate raging on email with regard to this first Christmas since fixed day collections were organised for waste and recycling.

From what I glean of activities at the Waverley offices, we're experiencing a lots of calls from residents who hadn't noticed that their collection would be brough forward prior to Christmas. It's natural that this would catch a few people by surprise, but I don't think we (the council) anticipated the volume.

It would be easy to say "Okay, hold it lads. Let's back it up, and do what we always did." But change is never smooth, and a few hiccups this year might translate into smooth running next. What's I'm confident of is that the activity of the team at the Waverley offices, and Veolia on the road, is focussed on fixing the problem, and playing catch-up prior to Christmas Day. As much as possible is being done.

If you need a reminder of the details of our fixed day collection schedule, click here.

Sewers

Not the nicest topic of conversation, but something that piqued my interest in the Telegraph today, as there's been a flurry of emails over the past week with regard to a 10 year old problem on the edge of the ward.

The story of Hillary Benn's announcement of the takeover by the government of all privately owned sewers in 2011, is good news for this problem. But, it does mean an estimated £12 increase per household on water bills.

Batteries Not Included (in kerbside recylcing anyway)

I've blogged about Verity O'Connell before, the Waste & Recycling Co-ordinator at Waverley. It was after she had blinded me with science at a Wrecclesham Village Society meeting some months back, and educated me to look at the plastic classification on packaging before putting it in the bin or the recycling container.

Anyway, she's been co-ordinating a trial of kerbside collection of batteries and textiles, and, whist the quality of materials collected has been excellent, unfortunately the quantity has not been enough to make permanent collection a viability.

Instead, the battery collection points around the borough will remain, plus some new ones. See the Waverley website for details.

Yellow Pages

Just heard that from now on Yellow Pages can be recycled in with other paper on our doorsteps. Sounds great, but it does strike me that everyone will be doing it at the same time of year, when the new one comes out. And, I'm therefore worried that all that extra weight in one go will make it a very tiring time for our recycling collectors!

Litter, litter, everywhere

Thursday, 4th September, 6 pm

After my visit to More House School yesterday, I walked back to Wrecclesham along Gardener's Hill Road. It's a lovely walk, and feels a million miles away from the busyness of nearby Farnham and the A31.

However, I became more and more aghast at the state of the litter along both sides of the road. I don't know how many times I've driven along it without noticing, but there a million (obviously I exaggerate, but only slightly) plastic bottles, newspapers, sweet wrappers, shopping bags, drinks cans and other throwaway society items, scattered continuously in the ditches and below the hedges.

So, I thought I'd book some time in my diary to go down there and do some litter picking. I suppose it's arguable that 'someone else' should do it, or that we pay enough taxes. But, I know that those arguments don't really end up with quick action, and in the meantime the situation will simply get worse.

Therefore, I'm hoping some readers might join me at 6 pm this Thursday (4th September) at the junction of Boundstone Road, Burnt Hill Way, and Gardener's Hill Road. I'll bring lots of black bin bags, and if you could bring your own gloves, we should be set. Depending on how many of us are, we may manage the whole stretch. But even if not, we'll have done a good thing.

See you there!

The Lone Star Recycle Container State

We may think that our struggles in the borough over waste and recylcing are hard, but we should feel for the campaigners and residents of Houston, one of the USA's largest cities. Presently they only recycle 2.6% of their waste, and if the photo in the New York Times this morning was anything to go by, residents couldn't even recycle if they wanted to due to the severe shortage of containers for recycling.

(However, don't you think that it's a bit uncanny and eerily worrying that the containers look so like our own - globalisation has some benefits, but I do wonder if homogenization of society is one of its ills).

Have you seen one near you?

It's possible that one of these stickers has appeared near you this morning.

As far as I understand it, it's been sometime since the requirements for plastic recycling specifically excluded things like meat trays, yoghurt pots and margarine tubs. But if habits take 3 weeks to form, they take at least 3 months to break. And so I'm sure, that even though a leaflet on this topic went to all Waverley residents in the past month or so, there will still be many stickers going out this morning and this coming week.

The bottom line is that we make (or save, depending on which way we look at it) money based on the quality of our recycling materials. So, if low grade plastics form an increasing percentage of the load, then it becomes less likely that the load can be used for recycling. Basically, no-one is going to buy it from us. It's the same with paper (shouldn't include brown envelope for example), but presently less of an issue.

So, whilst it looks draconion, it's probably the easiest way for the council to communicate the rules. In the end, we all wish for our council tax to be kept down, and maintaining quality in our recycling is one way of helping that happen.

Green Cone

I received my green cone today! Having ordered it just before I went to the US on business, I'd forgotten it was due to arrive, and so when popping home at lunchtime today it was great to see it waiting by the front door.

And it was a lot bigger that I had imagined! We should be able to get all our food waste in it no problem, and I have just the spot for it behind the shed. I'll post about it once it's up and running and I can give some more useful feedback. First I have to dig a hole for it, but I think I'll wait until this sweltering day has cooled down a bit.

Mick

We live near a small local shop. I'm all in favour of small local shops, but I'm absolutely not in favour of the litter caused the small local shop we live near.

It of course is true to say that it is the customers of the shop that drop the litter, and not the shop owners, managers or staff themselves (or at least I hope it's true). But that doesn't make the problem disappear, and I dispair at the regular appearance of our lane and nearby streets.

However, we have a local celebrity (in my mind anyway), in the shape of Mick. Frequently and regularly Mick clears the area using a litter pick, and copious black bags. The reason he doesn't have a barrow to assist him is that the one used in central Farnham was burned out by its departing owner (the litter-picker at the time), and so now Mick's barrow is in Farnha, not Wrecclesham.

In summary, Mick's a star, and a good bloke. Anyone in favour of a campaign for the local shop to buy him a new barrow?!

Speech!

A speech? That would be going a bit too far. But I did say a few words at the Wrecclesham Village Society AGM last night.

I spoke briefly about my hopes for the development of a Village Design Statement; I mentioned the new supplementary planning guidance for section 106 contributions (jargon, I know - you can read the Waverley document here); and told everyone about this blog.

However, I fell well short of the excellence of the first presentation of the evening by Verity O'Connell. Waste & Recycling Officer for the council, Verity told the meeting about the various aspects of the recycling efforts in Waverley, and did so with obvious passion (especially for her bicycle), and with great knowledge. (Check out more information on the Waverley website)

As the evening went on, I found myself feeling more and more guilty for contaminating our recycling containers with inappropriate materials. Note to self - margarine tubs shouldn't go in with the plastics! Or the brown paper bags with paper!

It's good to talk - and act!

As my wife reminds me - "I want actions, not just words!" And so I've eventually put a new list on the side bar of useful telephone numbers.

Actually, I was also prompted by a meeting I had in the council offices this morning, when I was given a little postcard with most of these numbers. Really handy, and just the kind of thing that I'd put on my fridge door.

You cannot be serious!

But I can - you really cannot believe how much post the average councillor gets. I'm a self-confessed geek, so you might be able to imagine that I'm all for getting everything electronically on my iPhone! It might the prevent the at least 500 sheets of paper I get through my door each month.

However, some things are nice printed, and I receive the Local Government Association magazine for councillors 'first' through the door each week. This time, the name of Bill Bryson on the cover caught my eye, and took me to an article about litter. Regular readers (all 3 of you), will note a couple of posts from me before about this, but today I'm extoling the virtues of "Stop The Drop" campaign by the Campaign for Rural England.

Do have a think about setting up a Community Clean-up where you live. Follow links to "Take Action" on the CPRE web pages, and you can see how easy it is.

Keep Guildford and Waverley Clean 2008

This weekend my wife bumped into Mick who cleans the streets near our house twice a week. Even though it's not strictly in his patch, he includes the new playground on Beldham Road, because it so quickly get's completely littered, and needs attention.

It reminded me of a letter I received a week ago from Waverley Environmental Services, regarding an extra team of cleaning staff who will tackle nominated areas in the borough. It's a great idea, and you can read more about it, and nominate areas, by going to the Keep Guildford and Waverley Clean 2008 web pages.

Also, the team will undertake a project such as tree planting, in an area important to residents. Please consider nominating an area in Wrecclesham or Rowledge.

I sort, therefore I recycle

This morning I met our recycle team for the first time, and at the end of my drive.

Shamefully I'd been getting it wrong when mixing various recyclable materials - I'd been leaving cans in with the glass, when it should have been in with the plastics. So, hearing the tinkle of bottles being carried, I dashed down to ask what I was doing wrong. They were about to leave without taking the glass / cans. However, on hearing my query and realising I needed help as I was a confused young(ish) man, they quickly answered my questions, helped me sort out the separate items, and took away my recycling.

I have to say, that it started my day with a smile - to have a good, fun, educational conversation with a good bunch of guys, with the sun shining. Thumbs up for the recycling team for Wrecclesham.

Litter? No - letter from Singapore

I'm in Asia on business, and whilst I was told before I arrived about the approach to litter, (and jaywalking, and general law-abiding behaviour), it didn't really hit home until the drive in from the airport. Wow, is really all I can say.

It contrasts massively with the kind of litter that we experience every day in our own villages. Living near a corner shop in Wrecclesham, I'm appalled at how little some of my fellow residents seem to care about the general wellbeing of our community. I believe that there is a strong link between a level of good manners in all areas of life, and the safety and happiness of our lives.

Without getting on my soapbox too much, it's not that I think that Waverley shouldn't have to clean the streets, collect waste, and recycle, but, it's that I think that the contract of society is broken between state and citizen. And not solely because of the trend towards bigger government. I believe that simply because the state does something, doesn't mean that the rest of society shouldn't.

Anyway, I could go on for a long time about this (email if you'd like to!), but suffice to say that I love Singapore, not least because I can walk down the street... and actually see the street, not just the cornucopia of retail rubbish. (And if you've been to Singapore, you'll know exactly how much retail I'm talking about!)