Letters to the Editor: Recycling Bins at Riverview Gardens

Dear Editor,

I am a tenant of Riverside Housing and am trying to get a resolution to our Recycling bin problems here at Riverview Gardens.

For 12 years Riverside provided a Caretaker to put out the green and grey bins and during that time there was never a problem. Riverside made the Caretaker redundant in January 2020 and the bins were then the responsibility of another department of Riverside but this only lasted until January 2021 when they decided to remove the green and grey bins altogether (on the pretext of them being a fire hazard so the tenants were told) and replace them with the larger type of bins. The bins are supposed to be emptied on alternative Fridays every fortnight. Since January the Household waste bins have been emptied without a problem but there has only been one emergency collection of the recycling bins organised by the Housing Officer in that time. The tenants have complained to Riverside Housing time and again to get this situation sorted out but the Housing Officer has said that we the tenants should sort it out ourselves by complaining to Wirral Council. The tenants disagree with this as Riverside, as being the organisers of these collections should make sure the service they are paying for from the Council is being honoured.

All the tenants here are over 55 and some of them have health or mobility issues that prevent them using the bins easily or properly another fact that has been pointed out to Riverside but again the reply from the Housing Officer has been quite dismissive in that she has said that “the tenants should come up with ideas to sort out the situation.” An assessment should have been done by Riverside prior to changing the bins to see what impact it would have on the tenants and a decision made on changing the bins only after that assessment but Riverside just went ahead and changed the bins without any thought of the consequences.

Today is Friday 14th May and it should be recycling bin collection day. The recycling bins are full and over-flowing and again the tenants are awaiting them being emptied. Once again the bins have not been emptied and the bin store is becoming an Environmental and health hazard and an encouragement for rats and other vermin.

I have attached a couple of photos.

Many thanks,

Dave Nicholas,
Rock Ferry

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