Parked cars blocking waste collection vehicles

Motorists are being urged to park responsibly to help ensure waste is collected across the city.

Swansea Council is making the plea after incidents over recent weeks where irresponsibly parked cars have blocked waste collection vehicles from accessing a number of streets.

Hafod Street and Beechtree Close in Clase are among the streets waste collection teams haven’t been able to access on their morning rounds.

The council is reminding residents that specialist waste collection vehicles have to be able to access streets across the city for black bag waste, kerbside recycling and garden waste to be collected.

A Swansea Council spokesperson said: “Residents sometimes assume we simply haven’t tried to pick up their waste when it’s not collected, but this is often due to access issues.

“In recent weeks, there have been issues at a number of streets where irresponsibly parked cars have blocked access for our waste collection vehicles. We always return later in the day but sometimes the irresponsibly parked cars are still there, even blocking access for our smaller waste collection vehicles. Recent examples have included cars parked directly opposite each-other on an entrance to a street, meaning emergency services vehicles would have been unable to get access as well.

“Sending crews back to areas we have been unable to reach also costs the council more money. We can assure residents that non-collection of waste for these reasons is as frustrating for the council as it is for them, so we’d urge motorists to please bear access issues in mind when parking their vehicles.”

Residents in Swansea have helped to recycle almost 70,000 tonnes of recycling during a 12-month period.

The figure is a 7,000-tonne increase on the previous year that’s helped the Council meet the Welsh Government recycling target of 58%, with Swansea now at 59.20%.

All councils in Wales will need to recycle 64% of waste collected by 2020.

The report also highlighted a reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill. In 2015/2016, 44,633 tonnes of waste were sent to landfill. The figure is 3,000 tonnes less than what was sent in 2014/2015.