CROYDON IN CRISIS: Residents and carers using a special service to dispose of hygiene waste were given less than two weeks’ notice that the service was being discontinued – potentially creating ‘a health and safety issue of enormous proportions’. By KEN LEE, Town Hall reporter
You’re gonna need a bigger bin: under their enhanced contract in Croydon, Veolia will no longer collect clinical waste separately
More troubling details have emerged about the £40million, eight-year contract that Mayor Jason Perry has handed to rubbish contractors Veolia, just two years after the firm was sacked for its multiple and regular failures.
Veolia have been allowed to stop carrying out collections of clinical waste, which will create “a health and safety issue of enormous proportions”, according to one Council Tax-payer.
But not according to Croydon’s £84,000 per year part-time Mayor. Effectively halving the frequency of clincial waste collections, according to Perry, “is about doing things differently for the better”.
Perry called it “an enhancement of the current service and not a cut to service”.
Which, of course, is just another Perry porkie pie.
Residents who signed up for a weekly clinical waste collection have been told to bin their yellow bins and bags, and now simply use black bin bags which will be collected once a fortnight with all other rubbish. Many were given little more than a week’s notice of this significant reduction in service.
“Bearing in mind that our weekly collection usually consists of four yellow bags, a fortnight’s tally will be double that,” one unimpressed resident told iC.
“It’s outrageous that a vital service for the most vulnerable is deemed eligible for cost-cutting. So much for inclusion and human rights.”
Eye, eye: the re-hiring of rubbish contractors Veolia has reached the pages of one of the country’s best-selling magazines
Under contract changes approved by the Tory Mayor, Veolia has been allowed to halve the frequency of collections of clinical waste – with piss-poor Perry claiming credit for somehow making it “easier” for residents to dispose of such waste.
In fact, all that Perry and his sidekick, cabinet member Scott Roche, have done is reduce one aspect of Veolia’s workload, to save the company’s costs and help increase their profit margins.
At the weekend, Inside Croydon reported a leaked memo from inside the council’s HQ in which elected councillors were ordered by council officials to stop filing complaints about Veolia’s failing service with “member enquiries”, the Town Hall’s internal system for handling formal questions from elected officials.
“Our streets will be tidier and residents will notice a better service,” piss-poor Perry tried to claim, convincing no one. Veolia has had a succession of contracts to empty Croydon households’ bins, sweep the borough’s streets and clear away fly-tips since 2003.
Private Eye, the country’s biggest-selling satirical fortnightly, last week followed up on iC’s reporting of the renewed Veolia contract under the headline “Voila Veolia”.
The change to collections of clinical waste was not communicated to residents signed up for the service until just a few days before Perry permitted Veolia to reduce the service.
One resident had only just forked out £70-plus on a yellow bin for their household’s clincial waste. When they called the council with questions about the change of service, they were given a series of unconvincing excuses.
“I’ve been told was due to the wrong bins being collected. When I asked why, as the clinical waste bins are collected on a different day from any other rubbish so would be the only ones left out, no one could tell me,” the loyal reader told Inside Croydon.
“This is a health and safety issue of enormous proportions and will only increase. The rats and foxes are already a problem. They will have a field day with bags of adult soiled nappies. These bags could also include syringes.
“No one will be owning up to being responsible for this mess when it’s strewn across the paths. Street cleaners won’t be coming daily to clear it up.”
Dodgy parking: the council issued an announcement about the axing of the clinical waste service 10 days before it happened. They illustrated it with a pavement-parked bin lorry
The change in the collection service is clearly a hugely distressing matter for those residents who signed up for it.
One resident who called the council to raise the problems likely to be encountered with vermin around the waste sacks was told to pour bleach over the bags.
The council officials that the resident spoke to “said that the binmen were getting confused with the amount of different bins”.
Another resident told Inside Croydon: “My sister has cerebral palsy and as such has a weekly collection of clinical waste yellow bags.” A week before the new contract kicked in for Veolia, they received a letter informing them that the service is no longer available. “No yellow bags will be issued and the waste must be double-bagged and put in the general waste.”
The resident had routinely had at least four bags of clinical waste collected every week. “We are now forced to have a bigger bin, though this will obviously not be sufficient to accommodate clinical waste bags and general rubbish.”
They described this unconsulted service change as “outrageous”, and they see it as nothing other than “cost-cutting”.
In a statement issued by the propaganda bunker at Fisher’s Folly just before the clinical waste changes were implemented, they said: “As part of its new waste contract with Veolia, Croydon Council is making it easier for residents to dispose of non-hazardous clinical hygiene waste.”
According to one of the affected residents: “This is Orwellian stuff, that you used to read about in 1984 and Animal Farm.”
The big advantage on this reduction in service, according to Croydon Council? “This means that residents will not have to leave yellow waste sacks outside their property.” But the council and Veolia might generously allow residents to have a bigger wheelie bin! Hurrah!
Veolia won’t even touch infectious and hazardous waste. This refuse, often due to ongoing health treatment or post-operative care, has to be removed through healthcare providers. “Residents are encouraged to contact their GP for more information,” the council said, unhelpfully.
And Croydon’s increasingly absurd Mayor, Jason Perry, is supposed to have actually said this: “We are making it easier for residents to dispose of their non-hazardous clinical hygiene waste.” Our italics. Just in case you can’t believe your eyes.
“Non-hazardous waste does not require a special collection, so instead of asking residents to display this waste in yellow bags outside their properties, they can now put it in a regular black sack and in their general waste bins for collection.
“We appreciate it is a change, but this is an enhancement of the current service and not a cut to service. It is about doing things differently for the better.”
This load of old codswallop was published on the council website on March 21 – 10 days before Veolia’s new deal kicked in.
In a triumph of service delivery and communications incompetence, the council illustrated this report with an image of a Veolia bin lorry parked, possibly illegally, probably dangerously, on the pavement. Trebles all-round!
And just 10 days before he imposed this new, reduced service, part-time Perry said, “We are contacting residents who use this service to tell them about the change and are encouraging them to get in touch if they feel they need a bigger bin.”
So thoughtful of him, and just as he has hiked Council Tax to record levels, too…
Read more: April Fools! £40m Veolia contract comes into force tomorrow
Read more: BINMAGEDDON 2: Councillors now ordered not to complain
Read more: Croydon and three other boroughs to bin Veolia rubbish deal
Read more: No Access Croydon: 30 voluntary groups demand reopening
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
- Inside Croydon has moved to Bluesky. Click here to join us there for latest updates and insights
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
