One of Cornwall's most picturesque villages, a favourite among tourists, has been overrun by uncollected, seagull poo-covered bins. The situation has become so dire that locals and businesses in Mousehole have rebranded their village as a 'binhole'. Despite the local authority's promise to collect the wheelie bins, they remain clustered around the scenic harbourside.
West Cornwall was the third region in the county to receive the new grey bins as part of a scheme announced earlier this year. The initiative, which changes bin collection from weekly to fortnightly, was first implemented in mid-Cornwall. Despite initial hiccups, Cornwall Council reported that recycling in mid-Cornwall has increased from 40% to 55% of total waste.
Has you village been taken over by wheelie bins? Email us at [email protected] The revamped system includes the existing recycling bags, collected fortnightly, a wheelie bin or waste sack for non-recyclable rubbish, collected on alternate weeks, and two food waste bins collected weekly. Many residents have welcomed the change, praising the efficiency of the new system, reports Cornwall Live .
However, in places like Mousehole, while the new bins have been distributed to households, the old ones have not been removed. This has resulted in unsightly congestion in the quaint streets surrounding the picturesque harbour. Kim Hambleton, a local resident and founder of jewellery and gift shop Just Lily, with branches in Mousehole, Porthleven, Falmouth, and St Ives, criticised the lack of common sense demonstrated in delivering new bins without collecting the old ones simultaneously.
"I call our village 'binhole'. There are bins everywhere. Some of these bins are covered in seagull poo.
Others have festering stinking rubbish in them. It's absolutely disgusting," she remarked. "I know locals are up in arms.
It's bad enough for us but poor visitors who come to enjoy one of the most beautiful harbours in Cornwall. " "I think it's bad management. No common sense.
You'd think it would make sense to drop a new bin in and take one away at the same time. But no. Our village is looking very sad right now.
It doesn't look good at all," she added. Kim expressed her frustration via Facebook about the uncollected green bins. She was informed by Cornwall Recycles, the organisation responsible for removing the green bins, that they belong to property owners.
Many of these owners might hold second homes or may not be aware of their responsibility to register for free bin collection. Sign up for FREE to Mirror Travel and discover dream escapes, latest travel advice and more JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP: Discover your next dream getaway in the UK or abroad by joining our free Mirror Travel WhatsApp community HERE . GET THE NEWSLETTER: Or sign up to the Mirror Travel newsletter for a weekly dose of the best holiday deals, travel warnings, expert advice and hidden gems, straight to your inbox.
Kim relayed that even though she registered as a resident for free bin disposal, her bin was not disposed of. The response from Cornwall Recycles read: "The service to have your old bin collected and recycled in your area for no charge has passed. However, you can take it to one of our household waste recycling centres that has a recycling bank for bulky plastic.
They are at Bude, Connon Bridge, Launceston, United Mines, Truro, Falmouth, St Austell." Adding more complications to the situation, Kim said despite the council stating the free collection period ended, she had been informed: "We have now been told that these bins could be recycled by August 18. This is not acceptable in a tourist village so small and struggling for space.
" Others joined Kim in her complaints, with Jane Johnson proclaiming: "Bloody nightmare here in Mousehole. Bins of all colours are strewn everywhere. Holiday lets [which should not be given council bins as they must pay for a private collection service] are getting them as well as residents.
There's nowhere to put the old bins, as no-one has any outside space here." "There's no sufficient room for the black bin, which is larger than our previous green bin, but those bags aren't effective at keeping animals like foxes, badgers, or seagulls out. Flies gathering.
We need recycling bins in the village," she added. "It's very unpleasant and unsightly having all these bins. They've already been here for about two weeks and they're going to be here we're told until August 18," said Tim Pullen.
"When the bins are done every Tuesday the whole streets are blocked. It's just incompetence. I just don't understand why they're waiting until mid-August to take them away.
" An anonymous resident chimed in: "It's dangerous. It's a health hazard. It's a fire hazard.
Some people put dog poo bag in there. We can't get an ambulance round here as these bins are blocking the roads." Barbara Lonsdale compared the situation to the absurdity of Monty Python films; she stated: "It might work where 80% of the homes are not second homes.
Second homes apparently were not given the new black bins as they are supposed to pay private collection companies to have their rubbish and recycling picked up." "Not that 99% of second home holiday lets have ever bothered to recycle. It's Pythonic," she continued.
Local Cornwall Councillor Thalia Marrington commented: "It's obviously a huge operation, changing a whole waste service across and I think this area may has been more difficult as firstly this phase of it is happening in the summertime period now when everywhere is busy, secondly there are a lot of holiday lets and second homes for the council to 'correctly' allocate or not allocate to and thirdly, we had the old Penwith bins to remove here whereas other areas didn't have bins before." "There have been over 10,000 requests for example for the removal of old bins (which is happening across a five week period) and whilst I've tried to make the case to come and pick them up quickly, every other seasonally affected area is asking for this too. "The council is aware there may be a 'legacy' bin issue though in this area and I'm sure once the new service has 'bedded in' and any teething issues have been addressed they'll be looking at that too.
It's important that we are changing and collecting our food waste too though and coming in line with the rest of the country." She mentioned that Cornwall Council's community and engagement team will be available to address any concerns and answer queries on Thursday July 18 between 12-2 pm at the Solomon Browne Hall where a waste and recycling roadshow will be held. A representative for Cornwall Council stated: "Our contractor has already started clearing the bins that households have asked us to collect.
Due to the high number of bins in the area, this will take several weeks to complete. Anyone that signed up to the collection service, will receive a text on the Sunday before their bin is due to be collected so they know to leave it out." "We encourage households to repurpose their old bins - as garden storage perhaps, or a water butt or donate them to a community group that can make use of it.
Households that did not sign up to the collection service and do not want to keep their bin can take it to their local Household Waste and Recycling Centre.".
