'Putrid sludge' left in front of elderly couple's house in Waterford
The bins are being placed in front of the elderly couple's home. stock image
Two amendments to waste byelaws in Waterford were presented to councillors in City Hall last week.
Amidst the discussion, an incident was raised involving a local business that is placing bins full of "putrid sludge" in front of the home of an elderly couple.
The first proposed amendment presented is to limit the amount of daytime hours during which bins belonging to commercial premises are left on the street.
The second amendment proposed that commercial premises segregate their waste. The requirements under the byelaws to segregate waste currently only applies to households, and the aim is to now extend this to businesses as well.
Upon being opened to the floor for consideration, Cllr Damien Geoghegan raised the issue of bin collectors not segregating waste.
“These amendments put the onus on the commercial sector to segregate their waste, but what onus is on the waste collector in ensuring that the waste remains segregated?” he said.
“People feel cheesed off that they made an effort to segregate their waste, putting recyclables into one bin and the general household waste into another bin, and then the truck comes along to collect the bins and it’s all just thrown into the back of the one truck.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Mary Roche discussed an issue facing an elderly couple in the city.
“I’ve been dealing with an issue since the summer where a business has plenty of street frontage, but they insist on putting their bins out in front of the property of an elderly couple. The bins are full of what I could only describe as putrid sludge which is wafting in onto the private property.”
Cllr Roche proposed an additional amendment which outlined that bins should not be presented in front of private property. Waterford Council Director of Services Gabriel Hynes said that the amendment would be added.
