Outrage after council bin workers 'poured half a bin of green waste' into protected wildlife area

A Chorley resident has revealed his disgust at witnessing his green waste bin emptied into a nearby protected wildlife space.
The green waste dumped in protected green space off Banburgh DriveThe green waste dumped in protected green space off Banburgh Drive
The green waste dumped in protected green space off Banburgh Drive

The incident, which took place on Wednesday (August 8) at around 7.30am in Bamburgh Drive, Buckshaw Village, saw a bin worker from FCC Environment place resident Iain Lynn's green waste in to a protected space off the road instead of the back of the bin lorry.

In the Chorley borough, the green bin service is not free with residents paying a £30 annual fee to the local authority to have garden waste collections.

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The protected space is also managed by property management specialists RMG, with Buckshaw Village residents also paying an annual fee to contribute to the general upkeep of the area.

Bamburgh Drive in Buckshaw Village, ChorleyBamburgh Drive in Buckshaw Village, Chorley
Bamburgh Drive in Buckshaw Village, Chorley

Mr Lynn said: "They charge to take green waste away in the first place. So I put the bin out and I happened to open the window and watched the bin get taken away up the street because our two-year-old likes to watch the bin lorries.

"Only then the bin worker gets the bin and poured all the contents out on to the flowers and put the bin back.

"I'm effectively paying the council to fly tip. I could do that myself but I'd get fined."

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Chorley Council disputed the claims, saying that grass had instead been cleared off the road and into the flower area.

The authority did admit this is not protocol and should not have happened in the first place.

Coun Adrian Lowe, who oversees the waste collections at Chorley Council, said: “We’ve checked with the crew involved and what they have said is that some of the garden waste has spilled on to the floor when it was emptied into the back of the wagon.

"As the wagon had moved on a member of the crew has picked up the compostable waste and put it into the green space at the side of the road.

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"This is not the practice we’d expect from the crews as it should be cleaned up and put into the back of the wagon.

"The matter will be dealt with internally by our contractor and we would like to assure residents that this won’t happen again."

Mr Lynn, who works at JPIMedia as a social media editor, disputed their accounts, adding: "We watched him pour the bin. He took it from our house.

"He wheeled it up and emptied the bin before putting the bin back.

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"It's probably about two foot tall. There's half a bin [of waste] in the flowers.

"There are also huge areas of grass still on the road so why didn't they move that too?"

A council spokesman added that while the bin lorries are fitted with CCTV, the incident happened away from a lorry so there is no footage of what happened.

The incident was also reported to RMG, which said it was of "huge concern" to the company due to potential wildlife damage and costs.

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Simon Pearson from RMG Buckshaw Village, said: "We have been contacted by residents of Chorley Group 1 development this morning via our twitter account, @RMGBuckshaw where they reported to us concerns that at least one Chorley Council bin-operative was allegedly seen fly-tipping what looked like garden waste within the wild area close to Bamburgh Drive.

"This is obviously of huge concern to us, not just because of the damage to the natural habitat and over all condition of the area, but the effect matters like this can have on residents service charges when we then have to clean it up.

"We don’t anticipate the incident will have any impact on either, however we have raised a complaint with a senior member of Chorley Council and are awaiting comments back.

"We would like to take this opportunity to remind any more would be offenders that there are a lot of very committed and caring residents across Chorley Group 1 and Buckshaw Village as a whole and this sort of behaviour and sheer disrespect for the areas will be reported and necessary action taken.

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"The team of RMG on Buckshaw also make regular visits across the estate areas and any such issues are dealt with swiftly.

"We do have a very good working relationship with the local councils and their staff and firmly believe this was an isolated incident.

"However, we will be looking to meet the council team on site and they clean up the mess caused and not at residents expense."