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A Barrow resident has hit out at Barrow Council’s contractors for waste collection, saying they failed to pick up his recycling bin.
Nigel Lawrence, 57, said FCC – a waste management company that was formed in 2012 and is a subsidiary of a Spanish construction firm – refused to collect his recycling rubbish after he had left the red wheelie bin out because someone had thrown a pair of socks into the container.
Mr Lawrence, now retired, told The Mail: “I could understand if the socks had been soiled or something, but they were clean!”
He said that this week’s missed pick-up was not the first time FCC had refused his refuse. Waste management workers also failed to collect rubbish from his recycling bin when a passerby had thrown in a half-eaten pizza, he said, as well as when articles of clothing – including his wife’s knickers – had accidentally slipped in.
He argued that privatisation of waste collection services was at the root of what he said was “shoddy” work.
“It’s not practical for me to get up at the crack of dawn to leave the recycling bin out – I spent years doing that [while working] at the Royal Mail. I deserve a bit of peace in my old age.”
“I’m paying £20 a week in council tax – and what for!?”
“I want to stress that I’m not directly blaming the council for this – it’s the contractors who are at fault here!”
“This is what happens when you get private companies doing public service jobs.”
Mr Lawrence told The Mail that he contacted Barrow Borough Council earlier this week to complain about the service.
Mr Lawrence says he contacted Barrow Council again on Thursday and was told that the recycling bin would be collected by 3:30pm. He said nobody came by on Thursday afternoon.
A Barrow Borough Council spokesperson said: “Mr Lawrence’s recycling bin was not taken this week because it was heavily contaminated. He did speak to a number of Town Hall staff and was told that his bin would be emptied as soon as possible. That visit from a catch-up crew was scheduled for today (Friday).”
