A family is moving home due to the "rotten" stench of an overgrown bin alley where rubbish hasn't been collected for a month.
Michael Cowhig, 36 and originally from Whiston, moved to Picton with his wife as renters a decade ago, buying their house after eight years. They love having everything they need on their doorsteps, with The Mystery park and a sense Picton is "thriving again" thanks to community initiatives.
But they've had enough of flytipping and the piles of rubbish behind their house. Michael said: "It's not fair on the residents who want to live in an area where it's nice and you can walk out without walking through flies."
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The bin alley has always had problem with overgrown weeds and "fly tipping of larger items" like fridges, but Michael said this got worse when bin collection was switched from on-road to the back alley a few years ago. The supply chain manager said: "It has just been horrendous".
Michael said bins were last collected from Bannerman Street in Wavertree more than four weeks ago. With too few bins for the number of houses in the area, "open bags of food, waste and nappies" have been left out, turning "rotten" in the heatwave and leaving the back of Michael's house smelling like a "tip".
He described the state of the alley as a "health hazard". The council does come out to do work, including occasional deep cleans of the alleyway, but problems soon return, according to Michael.
This view was shared by local councillor Abdul Qadir, who is also the council cabinet member for neighbourhoods, in an email seen by the ECHO.
In the email, Cllr Qadir blamed residents for not placing bins at the designated collection points at the end of alleyways. Michael suggested the high turnover of tenants in some properties on the street meant residents may not know what is expected of them in terms of waste disposal, particularly if language barriers exist.
Cllr Qadir's email from June 15 said: "Over several years there have been numerous initiatives to tackle environmental performance by residents, all of which have limited or minimal long term effect. Quick wins where the alleyways and streets are cleared and cleaned to an acceptable standard very quickly fall backwards into the same poor practices. I am working on longer term solutions and will be able to provide an update in the coming weeks."
On Friday, June 17, Liverpool Council announced proposals to install underground bins in 140 high-density locations, many of which will replace temporary communal bins. These existing communal bins. already transformed some bin alleys in parts of the city like Kensington and Anfield, which were sometimes inaccessible due to a jumble of bins, rubbish and animal faeces.
The plan for new subterranean bins was formally confirmed by the council's cabinet on Friday, June 24. Michael said underground bins "have the potential to make a massive difference" if there is "the right communication and engagement" between the council and local residents.
Although Michael and his wife are moving to another part of Picton, they want to stay in the area because they like it so much. Love Wavertree, which his wife works for, does litter picks locally, and Michael feel this "shows there are people who are invested in the area and want to live in a nice place".
But, he added: "When you're walking down the street and there are bin bags thrown out and there's dog waste everywhere, you don't feel that proud of the area. There are good people, there just doesn't seem to be enough facilities and information available for people to maintain it themselves."
Cllr Qadir said: "Due to Liverpool having so many terraced streets, particularly to the north and east of the city centre, we've left thousands of families with the limited option of putting black bin bags on the street or in community bins which are easily accessed.
"This has been a recipe for a litter festival at times which in turn has placed extra pressure on council resources, which is a really inefficient way to handle this. Officers have been tasked to think more creatively to design a solution that gets round the limitations of these terraced streets and these underground smart bins are a great step forward.
"They brilliantly demonstrate how Liverpool can lead the rest of the county in the fight against litter and we already have other councils with similar communities looking to visit us to learn from our programme. We know from our work with Keep Britain Tidy that we need to bring litter levels down across the city and this investment will be a key element enabling people to play their part."
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