Neighbours in Hanham in South Gloucestershire watching recycling rubbish pile up for weeks with no end in sight for the on-going bin strike decided to take action. Facing a ‘hot stinky’ summer with the walk outs set to continue until September, Adam and Kia Payne in Samuel White Road contacted fellow residents in a bid to sort out the recycling gathering on the kerbs.
Kia said: “We have a long road, so it’s really only a segment and we have residents from 10 houses involved." With five weeks of rubbish already piling up, Adam said they had concerns about damaging the environment, risk to wildlife and the potential of fly-tipping. Plus with warm temperatures, they were also worrying about flies in the heat.
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Kia said: “We made a Whatsapp group and everyone was really grateful we had come up with a plan. We did the first week as we have a van and everyone has a week, so we have collections now until September.
“We’ve kept it really flexible so residents can choose a day. We will also be helping elderly residents who are not able to take their own,” she said.
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Kia added: “We’re really lucky, we’ve got a good road and have come together really well. It makes life much easier as we will only have one week each.”
South Gloucestershire residents could be facing months of recycling chaos as waste collectors continue to strike. Around 150 workers employed by the council’s waste contractor Suez are taking part in the strike action.
South Gloucestershire has said black bins will be collected as normal and asked that residents continue to put them out on the scheduled day. Recycled waste including food bags are not being collected and the council made special arrangements for extra deposit points at a number of locations.
In an open letter to Suez on July 4, council bosses called upon the union Unite and Suez to: “explain what actions have been taken to date to settle the industrial action and to set out how to resolve the dispute between them.”
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Union members refused an eight per cent wage offer, which Unite said was a real term pay cut, highlighting Suez profits of £80,8m in 2021. The union, which had announced that strike action would last until September, slammed the council’s ‘open letter’ saying it was a “pretend intervention to cover its back”.
A spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council said: “We are fully aware of and understand the impact the industrial action between Unite and SUEZ is having on our residents. We wholeheartedly thank our residents for their patience and the ongoing effort they are putting into recycling, disposing of their waste and continuing to help the environment while the strike action is taking place, which has caused significant disruption.
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“It is fantastic to see how communities have pulled together to help each other out and are supporting those friends, relatives and neighbours who may not be able to access our Sort It Centres, or the additional locations we have introduced to dispose of recycling and food waste. Further advice and information on the kerbside collections affected by the ongoing strike action and what to do with your containers, will be updated daily on our website at or call our Streetcare team on 01454
