Footage Emerges of Denbighshire Council Recycling Service Concerns

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More footage has emerged of a crisis-hit North Wales council recycling service. Binmen in Denbighshire have been filmed climbing on to a recycling truck to empty materials into a cage, in what appears to be a breach of health and safety rules.
The footage was shot in Carrog, near Corwen in Denbighshire by a local resident who wants to remain anonymous in the past few weeks. It shows a Denbighshire County Council worker climbing on to the vehicle and throwing recycling into a “co-mingling cage”.
Co-mingling was introduced as a “last resort” by an authority beset by complaints and missed bin collections. It allows for dry recycling – which has been separated and washed by residents – to be placed into a single container. The recyclable material is then separated at a council depot after the round is completed in a bid to speed up collections..
A Denbighshire County Council spokesperson said the incident was “investigated and addressed appropriately”. The authority went on to urge local people not to film staff at work after several videos circulated on social media, including one were workers apparently dumped batteries into residents hedges. Another video showed workers appearing to dump food on dry recycling.
A council spokesman said: “The incident described in the video happened some weeks ago and was investigated and addressed appropriately at the time as an internal matter. Staff have been reminded of the correct actions to take while delivering the service to residents.
“Co-mingled collections are only being used as a last resort when standard collections cannot be carried out. This is a practice that will be phased out. When this type of collection is necessary, recycling is kept separate from the food wherever possible, enabling the waste to still be recycled after the round is complete.”
He added: “We would ask residents to not film operatives whilst they are working as this can make them feel rushed or intimidated whilst carrying on with their day-to-day work. We would encourage residents who have an issue or a query regarding their collection to contact the council so that their issue can be investigated and resolved.”

By Richard Evans – Local Democracy Reporter