Recycling bags
Feb 9, 2011 at 9:02 
The unutterable shambles drags on. Canterbury City Council's ham-fisted penny-pinching, masquerading as waste reduction and cost saving, has proved such a failure that even they have had to accept it. I expect they'll say 'you said, we listened'. They never say 'we screwed up, we're sorry'.
Once upon a time, we had adequate numbers of adequate recycling bags, and could get more from the Council offices if we ran out. The Council decided that some 40% of the bags being distributed for recycling were not being used for recycling. Their solution was to distribute fewer bags and make us register if we needed more. Coincidentally, and to worsen the situation, these bags provided under the new regime were of inferior quality - the initial batches were simply not fit for purpose.
Not surprisingly it all went wrong, in entirely predictable ways. The bags split, so people double-bagged their rubbish, and got through their small supply of bags at twice the rate. Registering for more bags was not a smooth or convenient process for many. People resorted to using carrier bags, or just putting their recycling rubbish in the landfill bins. The Council said we could BUY more recycling bags from the supermarkets. Bloody cheek.
The Council repeatedly told us what a great idea it was and how swimmingly well it was going, how the wrinkles would be ironed out, and it was all for the best in the long run. But now, at very long last, the penny seems to have dropped. The Executive meeting on Valentine's Day now has an extra, urgent item to consider regarding the provision of recycling bags. The preamble says "the service would benefit from an increase in sacks offered. This has followed customer feedback which has been critical of the number and quality offered" - a lot of under-statement in a small space, if you ask me.
Reader Comments (2)
Things will get better in 2013, but in the meantime the best has to be done to ensure people who want to recycle easily can do, in my view.
Post 2013, when refuse collections are shared across East Kent (broadly), we'll probably get glass collection and kitchen waste collection thrown in, presumably in different containers.
So, just thinking allowed, even if the old system were to be restored at a cost (not recommended by officers to the Executive), the cost implications would not be long term - presumably for 2011/12 and 2012/13. Cash is tight, clearly, but given "collecting rubbish" is a council service absolutely everybody uses, perhaps a case could be made?