Man's anger over rubbish mountain (From The Northern Echo)

Man's anger over rubbish mountain

6:30am Saturday 16th January 2010 in

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MANY of us have missed a bin day in the past few weeks, with the worst winter in years making collections impossible.

But spare a thought for Ian Colledge, who says his bins have not been emptied for more than six weeks.

The rubbish is now overflowing, with 23 bags piled up next to his wheelie bin.

The remains of his Christmas turkey dinner are still there, along with remnants of other festive celebrations.

To make things worse, there have been two birthdays in the household in that time, further adding to the rubbish mountain.

Mr Colledge, a married father- of-two, regularly has to re-bag the rubbish, with cats and other animals trying to find their way in, and has seen a rat in his street.

“It’s disgusting out in the back street,” said Mr Colledge, of High View, Ushaw Moor, near Durham.

“It’s horrible. Thankfully we haven’t had any really strong winds yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

“At least with the freezing temperatures the smell is not so bad – any other time of year it would be worse.”

Mr Colledge said Durham County Council failed to empty his bins even before the snow hit, blaming cars parked in his street.

The 45-year-old self-employed joiner said: “Bearing in mind we moved to a ‘super council’ a few months ago, I’m not very impressed. Things seem to be going downhill quickly.”

Durham County Council said it was continuing a major push to catch up with a backlog of collections forced by the prolonged cold snap.

Where bin wagons cannot drive up particular streets, workers are collecting rubbish on foot.

Oliver Sherratt, the council’s head of direct services, said: “We’ve made substantial progress across the county, with nearly all bins throughout Sedgefield, Wear Valley and Teesdale now up to date and 95 per cent of bins in Easington and Chester-le-Street.

“There, however, remain a few pockets around Durham City and some larger areas in Derwentside where access has proven particularly difficult.

“Be assured, we are working over the weekend and plan to get most, if not all, outstanding areas picked up early next week.”