More than 500 people have applied for assisted bin collections ahead of the move to wheelie bins, more than double those who received it for bags.
South Holland’s new wheelie bin collection service goes live on November 9.
Ahead of that, the district council has been promoting its service to request help with the bins.
Coun James Avery told the most recent meeting of the authority that more than 500 requests for the service had been submitted which would be assessed by a team put together for the roll-out.
“We’ve had over 500 requests for assisted collections and had 500 on the service before that,” he said. “We’ve a team of engagement officers at the moment visiting households and making sure if assisted is right for those people, or if they need to be exempt from wheelie bins.”
Several councillors quizzed Coun Astill about the roll out at the meeting.
Coun Mark Le Sage asked about the monitoring of areas renowned for fly-tipping due to the early presentation of rubbish, such as in Ayscough Avenue in Spalding.
“One would hope presenting of waste in bins will prevent the unsightly issue of bags being split open,” Coun Astill answered. “To start with we’re working on the basis of education before enforcement, particularly around the issue of early presentation and what goes in each bin.
“We can certainly keep an eye on that specific area.”
Part of the education needed, Coun Astill said was what can and cannot be included in each bin.
An example of this is shredded paper, which he said had to be in general waste rather than the paper.
“The reason for that is the systems with recycling and paper can’t cope with the small size and it causes problems. It has to be put in bags so when it’s put in the lorry the shredded paper doesn’t blow everywhere.
Coun Astill also told councillors that the authority would look at its bulk waste collections when the new system is bedded in.
It followed a question from Coun Paul Barnes who said frustrated residents had told him the demand was outstripping capacity.
“If residents can find a man with a van quicker than our council collects items, are we losing potential impact from those operators while risking fly-tipping?” he asked.
Coun Astill said there were restrictions around bulk waste collections and currently the council could only offer it on Wednesday, but the authority would look at it again in the new year.
