Eden Council hopes seagull attacks on blue bin bags will be reduced following a decision by its contractor to halve the number of days rubbish sacks are put out for collection in Penrith, with other areas also seeing changes.
District councillor Karen Greenwood told a meeting of Appleby Town Council in her monthly report that contractor Urbaser had taken the decision to rationalise routes from four days to two days — in order to save fuel and time.
The change, which came into force on Monday, affects 15,245 out of 28,280 properties, which equates to 54 per cent of households.
Residents will be provided with a roll of blue bags, which will provide each household with a six-month supply, and remove the need for blue bags to be left after each collection.
In areas where there will be no change to the current rubbish collection day, collection times may vary so residents are being told they will need to present their blue bags by 6am on their collection day.
In her report, Mrs Greenwood states: “As blue bags will only be presented on two days per week, this will reduce the number of seagull attacks on bags.”
The report said the changes followed a comprehensive exercise to optimise and simplify the collection service for all residents, whilst improving its efficiency and addressing health and safety issues such as the handling of blue bags multiple times when transferring them from one collection vehicle to another.
A spokesman for Eden Council said that every resident affected by the changes will receive a leaflet through their door stating their new collection day, where appropriate.
Key improvements on the way include reduced seagull nuisance, with bags put out in Penrith on two days instead of four, plus reduced CO2 emissions and fuel consumption.
“The rationalisation of waste collection routes is an operational decision made by the contractor, in partnership with Eden Council, that will not see any material reduction in the levels of service provided. As such, the changes do not represent a contractual change that would deliver savings to the council,” the spokesman added.
Mike Tonkin, services portfolio holder at Eden, said the changes would boost the efficiency of the service.
“The current collection rounds have evolved over a long period as services have developed alongside growth in rural property development.
“We’re delighted to be bringing in these improvements, which will simplify and optimise the collection service for Eden’s residents, whilst boosting the efficiency of the service and reducing health and safety risks.”
At this time, there will be no change to the frequency of collections and no changes at all to recycling collections.
