Let’s talk rubbish!

Posted on: 24th August 2017

Let’s talk rubbish! A risky headline for a Politician but it is a topic and a responsibility I have for Cornwall that seems of great interest.

I’ve been contacted about holiday lets. They look like ordinary homes but are actually businesses, as defined clearly in legislation. Like all other businesses, they should pay privately to have their waste collected and disposed of but many just put it out at the curbside for the Council to collect. The Council needs to ensure these businesses understand their responsibilities and, if they do not make proper arrangements for their waste to be collected, then enforcement action will follow. So, anyone reading this that cleans a holiday let, make the owner aware of the rules and holiday let owners and agents reading this – do the right thing! The bonus for the holiday let business is they will be able to arrange to have the rubbish removed at change over rather than the allocated Council collection day.

Holiday let rubish

Holiday let waste – should Cornwall Council clamp down of abuse of domestic waste collection? Photo by Cornwall Live, taken in Port Isaac

The Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (CERC) also known as the incinerator, is another topic of conversation. Despite local concerns about it’s impact on the environment, the evidence I’ve seen is that it is less harmful than the landfill sites and probably less harmful than people continuing to drive old diesel engine cars! Landfill sites will all be closed in Cornwall in 2018 and those making decisions before I even became a Cornwall Councillor felt that the CERC was the best way forward. I know people say but it cannot take our bulky waste so, I have acted on that and soon a shredder will be in place so all domestic waste that cannot be recycled will be able to be dealt with with a very few exceptions like rubble and soil.

Seagulls are the other talking point and the fact that, outside of the old Penwith District Council area, where wheeled bins are not provided, they tear open the bags and distribute the waste around the streets. Here is info from Cornwall Council website:

How can I protect my bags of rubbish from animals and birds?

You can buy a traditional rubbish bin or a wheelie bin and put your bagged rubbish out for collection in the bin. As bins are emptied by hand we prefer that wheeled bins are not bigger than 140 litres.

You can also buy reusable seagull proof bags for £3.50 at our one stop shops.  The seagull proof bags hold around three black sacks of rubbish.  They have a secure Velcro fastening, a tie at the back and a weighted base to stop them blowing away after collection.

More rubbish info: Cornwall Council Waste Collection info