A call is being made for a recycling site and/or closed containers for glass and plastic bottles at selected spots in the area.
Ward councillors Alan Currie, Heather Keen and Harry Scobie say many households in the area do not have access to individual bins and limited ability to recycle.
The matter will be raised at the next full council meeting on February 24.
In a statement the councillors said: “We will be asking that a suitable site or sites be identified in Cliftonville West that local residents can easily access to recycle their glass and plastic bottles in secure sealed containers that cannot be accessed by fly tippers or easily misused and contaminated. A facility to also recycle tin, paper and cardboard would be welcome but this would need to be carefully considered to prevent open containers being misused and creating a fly tipping area.”
During the last two years of the ongoing Covid situation with many people spending more time at home and ordering goods and food online, there has been a large increase in the amount of waste generated by the majority of households in Thanet and noticeably in Cliftonville West.
The Cliftonville West councillors say they have liaised with the relevant Thanet council waste and recycling and street cleaning officers in a bid to keep the area as litter free as possible and say they have reported all incidents of fly tipping and missed waste collections and encouraged many households to ‘opt in’ to the neighbourhood recycling scheme. The trio say they have also issued extra red bags and replacement bins wherever possible.
The issue of rubbish, fly-tipping and a lack of adequate disposal facilities for some properties has also been raised numerous times by the Athelstan Road Tenants & Residents’ Association (Artra). Residents in the street have been plagued by the ongoing saga of fly-tipping and missed rubbish collections despite the removal of hated communal bins at the end of October 2020.
The paladin bins at each end of Athelstan Road were supposed to be for community use by residents in the area that do not have access to a residential refuse area. But the bins had been a continual hotspot for dumping of everything from used nappies to household furniture. They were removed but fly-tipping, especially in the area of the former car wash site, continued.
The Cliftonville ward councillors say: “It is clear to us that there needs to be more focus on recycling by Thanet council, particularly in areas within densely populated areas of Cliftonville West which contain a number of Houses of Multiple Occupation where individual bin storage is not possible and communal bins are in place.
“After discussions with local people and resident groups, we feel that the ward we represent: Cliftonville West, desperately needs either one designated recycling site and/or a number of sealed containers for glass and plastic bottles to be situated at or near particular hot spots that suffer with fly tipping and overflowing bins.”
However, ARTRA says all the paladin bins need removing before recycling containers are considered. A statement on behalf of ARTRA says there is upset that the association has not been consulted, adding: “Prepare the local community for the removal of all paladin bins as agreed between TDC officers, councillors and ARTRA 3 years ago and perhaps after the successful removal of these last paladin bins, the introduction of recycling containers may be something to consider – but adding additional containers with zero community group communication first certainly isn’t appropriate.
“ARTRA cannot condone the addition of any containers without honouring our agreement and understanding on the removal of all paladin bins on Athelstan Road first, after adequate preparation on Ethelbert Crescent and Ethelbert Terrace, plus the remaining coast end Athelstan Road properties well in advance.”
ARTRA has now requested a meeting with the councillors and council officers to discuss the proposals being made.
Councillor Alan Currie will be making the request to the Thanet council cabinet portfolio holder.
Residents are asked to contact the Cliftonville West Councillors facebook page if they would like to mention somewhere a recycling site or container could be beneficial.
Figures for 2019/20 show Thanet was ranked 262nd out of 350 local authorities for its recycling rates. The authority collected 47,451 tonnes of household waste within that year and recycled or composted 16,524 tonnes giving a recycle rate of 34.8%. The government is now backing a goal of recycling 65% of waste by 2035.
