‘This new system is simply rubbish’
11:03am Thursday 13th July 2006 in News
PROTESTING: Fiona Cox, Mike Baker, and Alison Giles with housekeeper Lata Mudiyanselage
FURIOUS mother-of-five Fiona Cox has expressed her despair at only being given one wheelie bin for a fortnight's household refuse.
Mrs Cox, of The Breach, Devizes, has voiced her concern over the system, which she says leaves homes overflowing with excess rubbish.
She is angry at Kennet District Council's decision, and said for a family to produce only one bin full of refuse every couple of weeks is impossible.
She said: "When I alerted the council to the problem, I was told if I tried using terry cloth nappies and bought milk in glass bottles then I could recycle the excess waste. That way the bin would not get so full.
"Why should we pay the extra cost for things like that when we already pay council tax to provide such services? I feel we have been penalised for having a big family."
Mrs Cox and several of her neighbours are worried that rubbish will start piling up.
She said: "There are maggots in the bottom of our bin as rubbish has been sitting there for two weeks and there is too much of it." Mrs Cox and her husband have five children under the age of ten as well as a housekeeper Lata Mudiyanselage. In two weeks she said they would produce eight bags of rubbish, and she alerted the council to this.
She said: "We have to go to the Hopton Industrial Estate once a week as we have so much excess waste, but even then the opening times are limited and there are long queues. I have children to look after so I can't always get down there."
She said to qualify for a second bin, she will have to wait a month and then have her rubbish inspected. She said: "They said they will assess the bin and make sure nothing can be recycled but I don't want my rubbish laid out."
Neighbour Alison Giles, 70, said: "My greenhouse was packed with rubbish and I am due to have knee surgery soon, so I will not be able to drive to the recycling centre to get rid of rubbish. This scheme will affect old people, people who can't drive and those with children."
Kennet leader Chris Humphries said: "Large families will not suffer. They will get the extra facilities they need for their rubbish."
