More info..
http://tinyurl.com/bx8v6f4

Lewis, they cant get rid of half the bin men as they say its weekly recycling and food waste and only 2 weekly rubbish as in bins, at worst it would be 25% of the men but that said how many men will want to leave, its not a job that many would want to have untill 55 or 60 years old, its a tough old job in all weathers.

Did read they are starting a nappy scheme in a few weeks, not sure how it works but it will mean olddesposable nappies get recycled and used for something else (Not new nappies I'd add)

that will explain it the lol

Low levels or weekly mixed recycling is a truck with an attendant team of loaders. This only requires one gang master who is usually the HGV qualified driver. Sorted recycling runs require a doubling of the number of HGV qualified drivers, increasing the cost and also different vehicles are used. More complex staff rosters and collection diagrams are required. This actually increases the manpower requirement, and therefore going over to one week general and one week recycle is not a manpower reduction measure but a manpower disposition change.

The recent dispute between the workforce and the council is nothing to do with snow. It's a cynical attack on the terms and conditions of staff, to bully them out of existing agreed working agreements to force them onto 'on call - send you anywhere - work weekends' shift patterns. Senior executives at the council decided to deliberately attack the existing working agreements as a prerequisite to imposing new working patterns. Without spelling out their intentions for negotiation and agreement. This attack on the binmen has the full backing of Labour Party cabinet. Disgusting.

Charging of Bulky Refuse Collection
It is proposed that a charge for this service be introduced from the 1st April 2013 at £10 per collection.

There is a risk that this proposal will increase fly tipping but this is an area where we will ensure suitable enforcement and removal action is focussed upon.

Review and Targeting of Street Cleansing and Grass Cutting Activity
/Schedules

The Councils Street Cleansing activities consist of weekly cleansing (litter picking) of every street in the County, with more frequent activity (daily) in all of our Town Centres / Zone 1 areas. This activity is supplemented by more intensive activities (blitzes) whilst the removal of fly tipping, power washing of streets and signs and overgrowth removal is also within this service area.

The proposal will mean
 a reduction of the number of teams in each area;
 our response times to requests to clean particular areas will remain above our legislative duty but some service standards will need to be reviewed;
 the use of ‘blitz’ work will be more targeted;
 the removal of graffiti will be prioritised (offensive content etc.);
 overgrowth removal will be more targeted.

Proposal – to increase all Fees and Charges by 5% above RPI (January to January) with effect from 1st April 2013 (or as soon as is practical thereafter).

http://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/councildemocracy/democracyelections/councill...

So, rubbish collection is now set at once every fortnight. In the meantime, foxes are said to becoming a nuisance in our towns and cities, even attacking babies in their cots. And Boris Johnson has called for a cull of these animals in London. Of course, it's all the fault of the foxes themselves isn't it?

So what happens here in RCT? Are we too going to be subjected to attacks by foxes and rats, and then we too will hear the council calling for a cull of these animals? Nothing to do with all the rubbish scattered about our streets is it? I mean, these animals should know better. The rubbish is not left out and uncollected for their benefit is it?

No, the foxes and the rats should realise that our leaders don't have the money to collect the rubbish, so what is left should be left well alone by these scavengers.

Listen though how MPs are calling for a pay rise, and councillors will definitely not be cutting back on their ill-gotten gains either. Oh no, sod the rubbish, the foxes and the rats, the two legged scavengers in our council chamber will not be cutting back on their spoils, of that you can be sure.

Aberdare police station is closed too, so along with the foxes and the rats, the crooks, drunks and druggies will have the streets to themselves.

What price progress, eh?

Very true, Gibbsy. At the end of the day it's the people themselves who are to blame. What the people of Cynon Valley think about their environment is easy to see by the amount of rubbish they dump all over the place.

Take a trip on the train down to Pontypridd and check out the rubbish on the embankments around Pehrhiwceiber. You might think you're passing through a landfill site, and by the look of it, you actually are. It's a disgrace, and a sure sign of what the people in that area think about where they live.

And in case the people of 'Ceiber think I'm singling them out, might I suggest you take a stroll or bike ride up the old tramroad from Trecynon to Trenant. From that you'll get an idea of what the people in Penywaun think about where they live too. It seems to double up as an annex of the Bryn Pica tip.

Then there's our country park, with empty cans of booze and plastic bags scattered around. I've mentioned this on here several times in the past, and it's still going on. It's obvious: those who dump their rubbish think they live in a s***hole anyway, so they might as well make it worse because nobody else gives a hoot.

The council do their best to clear up the mess. I can't fault them on that, but what I would like to see is the army of the unemployed earning their benefits by being organised into platoons to go around clearing the rubbish wherever it's dumped. Oh, I'd pay them £10 a week more for their trouble, but at least give them a purpose in helping to clean up their environment. As it is, the problem's getting worse, and until some pride is restored into our collective heads, it's going to go on getting worse.

I took the train down the valley the other day. The carriage was none to clean. Last year I videoed the same journey, as part of the research file I was compiling on the failure of RCTBC to collect rubbish and litter, as the law says that they must, and indeed what we pay them to do out of our council taxes.

I reported my findings last year to the council to be told that they adhered to their litter collect schedules. This of course was a deliberate lie which of course I pointed out to them as being so. Highlighting the time and the area which they said they were at when documented evidence clears showed that they were not!

I compared the latest video, taken from the train down the valley with that of the one I took at approximately the same time last year. I found that areas had not been touched, and in same places discarded junk was in the same place this year as it was last year!...

All anyone has to do is to take the journey down to Ponty in order to verify what I am saying, and for those that do, you can be forgiven if you find yourself thinking that you are in the backwaters of some third world country!

It really is time that the people began to take more of an interest in the failings of your council.

No good relying on your councillors, as most don't listen any more as they are simply full of self interests, and therefore make a mockery out of the elective democratic process!

I have long felt that between Labour, the Conservatives and the LibDems, democracy in the UK has been slowly but surely dismantled. I was sincerely warmed to see UKIP make so many gains...perhaps the winds of change will be blowing up the valleys, and for the better at long last........and no I am not a UKIP party member...I have been Apolitical out of shear disgust over what's been happening to my country, for many, many years!