Domestic and Recycling Waste

The request was successful.

Andrew Ratchford

Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

I am having difficulty locating the following information on your website and with the Bin collections going to 3 weekly in roughly September, I believe it is in everyone’s interest to know and understand what the ramifications are and what roles, responsibilities, options and assistance are available now and in the future regarding the recycling and waste management. As the Council involved the whole community in the discussion of Bin collections, I’m sure this is also in the public interest.

The following questions apply to residents and domestic and recycling waste

1. Do residents have to recycle by law or is this optional?

2. Does the law compel the Council to remove some or all of the rubbish of residents or is this down to the Council’s discretion? Could you reference the act / statute and section that dictates how or how often this occurs.

3. If one of my recycling bins is left due to contamination, can I request the Council return after the contamination is removed to dispose of the contents? By contamination, I refer to a non preferred item in a recycling bin. What factors determine when the Council will return to collect it?

4. Can I choose what Domestic waste Bin capacity I use? For example, if my Bin holds 200 litres, can I choose a 500 Litre bin (assuming they exist)?

5. Can I choose how many domestic bins I require? If not, if there a limit on the amount of domestic waste I am permitted to present to the Council waste services per collection? Such as, 450 per 3 weeks?

6. When the collections move to 3 weekly for domestic waste, what provisions are in place to ensure that residents that reach capacity with their bins prior to the default collection are assisted in some way?

7. If a domestic black bin is at capacity, can the Council legally refuse to collect it if the resident refuses to recycle?

8. If a domestic black bin is at capacity, can the Council legally refuse to collect it until the default collection date?

9. Can resident have their black domestic bins emptied more than once fortnightly now, as of 22-03-2017?

10. Can a resident request that their black bin be emptied more than once every 3 weeks when the 3 weekly collections start?

11. Can a resident designate one of their recycling bins as a spare “black bin” for domestic waste on a permanent basis? This would apply to residents with or without a black bin for domestic waste.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Ratchford

Andrew Ratchford left an annotation ()

Also, could you make available the risk assessment that you carried out to that assesses the impact of the weight of the black domestic bins after they go to 3 weekly. As the weight will increase, I would also like to know what procedures are in place to assist resident and employees with bins that become too heavy to move safely.

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Please quote ID 5344 on all correspondence
Dear Mr Ratchford
I am emailing to confirm the receipt of your recent FOI request to Wigan
Council. This has been logged and will be forwarded to the relevant
department for action.
We will respond as soon as possible and in any case no later than 21st
April 2017, which is 20 working days after the receipt of your request.
If you have any comments or questions in the meantime, please direct them
to [1][Wigan Council request email], or to Complaints and Information Team,
Resources Directorate, Wigan Council, PO Box 100, WN1 3DS
The Council does not charge for most FOI requests, but charges may be made
for actual disbursements incurred such as photocopying, printing, postage
and packaging, and only if these charges amount to more than £20.00. If a
charge is to be made, confirmation of the payment due will be given before
the information is provided and payment may be requested prior to the
provision of the information.
Your contact is Kath MacDonald.
Regards
Complaints and Information Team
Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
[2]www.wigan.gov.uk
[3]www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
[4]www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or
any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the
information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.
 
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Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Ratchford
I am writing to respond to your freedom of information request recently
received. This request has been handled under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.

* The response to your request is detailed in the attached document.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of this response, an independent senior
officer will review this decision. If you are not satisfied with our
response you must put your complaint in writing within 40 working days of
receipt of this response giving the reasons for your complaint.  You can
either email [1][Wigan Council request email] or write to the Complaints and
Information Team at the address below.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner, who is the
regulator for Freedom of Information. His website is
[2]https://ico.org.uk/ and his helpline number is 0303 1231113.
His staff may ask you to exhaust our internal complaints procedure if you
choose to complain to his office now.
Kind Regards
Complaints and Information Team
Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
[3]www.wigan.gov.uk
[4]www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
[5]www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
 
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or
any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the
information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.
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they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please
notify the system manager.

Email may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
for legal purposes.

As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this
email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the
exemptions in the Act.

This footnote also confirms that this email has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses.
______________________________________________________________________
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Andrew Ratchford

Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

Thank you for the response. However, you appear to have overlooked the request for the risk assessment and relating information. I will consider it closed it closed once this is either sent to me or published.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Ratchford

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Ratchford
FOI 5344 - DOMESTIC & RECYCLING WASTE
We have revisited the response sent to you and are having difficulty
ascertaining which of your questions was referring to a risk assessment
and can find none.
To ensure no errors were made in transferring your questions into a
template for response from the department, we inspected your original
request.  Again we could find no trace, in any of your 11 questions, of a
request for a risk assessment and relating documentation.
We feel therefore that FOI Request 5344 has been answered in full.  If
however you wish to make a request for documentation or policies relating
to risk assessments we shall be happy to process such a request as soon as
it is received.
Kind Regards
Complaints and Information Team
Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
[1]www.wigan.gov.uk
[2]www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
[3]www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
 
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or
any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the
information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.
This email together with any files transmitted with it are confidential
and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom they are
addressed. The information may be covered by legal professional privilege.
Do not copy, disclose or distribute the information. If you are not the
addressee, please contact the sender and immediately delete this email and
any attachments'
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
 
>>Corporate Logo<<
 
>>Corporate Disclaimer<<
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom
they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please
notify the system manager.

Email may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
for legal purposes.

As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this
email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the
exemptions in the Act.

This footnote also confirms that this email has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses.
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
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Andrew Ratchford

Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

The question I refer to was posted after the initial request. This is my fault for not including it. However, the quest was as follows:

"Also, could you make available the risk assessment that you carried out to that assesses the impact of the weight of the black domestic bins after they go to 3 weekly. As the weight will increase, I would also like to know what procedures are in place to assist resident and employees with bins that become too heavy to move safely. "

I appreciate you taking the time to deal with this.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Ratchford

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Ratchford
Thank you for your most recent email.
We have made a search of all our mail inboxes and unfortunately can find
no trace of your email containing your supplementary question.
As this is the first time we have seen your question regarding a Risk
Assessment this means we will need to process this as a new request.  This
will be done immedately and you will very shortly receive an
acknowledgement with a fresh FOI ID number.
Kind Regards
Complaints and Information Team
Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
[1]www.wigan.gov.uk
[2]www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
[3]www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
 
 
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or
any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the
information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.
This email together with any files transmitted with it are confidential
and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom they are
addressed. The information may be covered by legal professional privilege.
Do not copy, disclose or distribute the information. If you are not the
addressee, please contact the sender and immediately delete this email and
any attachments'
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
 
>>Corporate Logo<<
 
>>Corporate Disclaimer<<
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom
they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please
notify the system manager.

Email may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
for legal purposes.

As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this
email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the
exemptions in the Act.

This footnote also confirms that this email has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses.
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
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Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Please quote ID 5453 on all correspondence
Dear Mr Ratchford
I am emailing to confirm the receipt of your recent FOI request to Wigan
Council. This has been logged and will be forwarded to the relevant
department for action.
We will respond as soon as possible and in any case no later than 19th May
2017, which is 20 working days after the receipt of your request.
If you have any comments or questions in the meantime, please direct them
to [1][Wigan Council request email], or to Complaints and Information Team,
Resources Directorate, Wigan Council, PO Box 100, WN1 3DS
The Council does not charge for most FOI requests, but charges may be made
for actual disbursements incurred such as photocopying, printing, postage
and packaging, and only if these charges amount to more than £20.00. If a
charge is to be made, confirmation of the payment due will be given before
the information is provided and payment may be requested prior to the
provision of the information.
Your contact is Kath MacDonald.
Regards
Complaints and Information Team
Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
[2]www.wigan.gov.uk
[3]www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
[4]www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or
any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the
information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.
 
>>Corporate Logo<<
 
>>Corporate Disclaimer<<
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom
they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please
notify the system manager.

Email may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
for legal purposes.

As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this
email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the
exemptions in the Act.

This footnote also confirms that this email has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses.
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Wigan Council request email]
2. file:///tmp/outbind:/98/www.wigan.gov.uk
3. file:///tmp/outbind:/98/www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
4. http://www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Ratchford
 
I am writing to respond to your freedom of information request recently
received. This request has been handled under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.
 
The response to your request is detailed below.
 
No specific risk assessment was carried out to assess the impact of the
weight of black bins with the implementation of 3 weekly collections.
However, some waste modelling work was carried out to understand the
effects of 3 weekly collections and how much waste would be presented for
all the waste streams. This predicted that the change in weight would
only be small at around 8kg/bin.   The average weight of bins has been
reviewed against the pushing / pulling calculation and the weights fall
well within the guidelines.  The amount that can be a safely moved in a
wheeled bin is different for individuals and this will depend on
differences in size, build, capabilities, load and environment.  Manual
handling training has been given to employees so that they are able to
make a reasonable judgement given the task, their individual capabilities,
the load and the environment.  They are advised that that they should only
handle wheeled bins within their own capability. This determines whether a
bin is too heavy to move safely. This principle will continue with the
implementation of 3 weekly collections.  Residents are able to contact the
Council if they have concerns about being able to present their bins for
collection.  There are a number of solutions available including advice on
recycling right, the provision of additional bins if the criteria are met
and assisted collections for the more vulnerable or our residents.
 
If you are unhappy with any aspect of this response, an independent senior
officer will review this decision. If you are not satisfied with our
response you must put your complaint in writing within 40 working days of
receipt of this response giving the reasons for your complaint.  You can
either email [1][Wigan Council request email] or write to the Complaints and
Information Team at the address below.
 
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner, who is the
regulator for Freedom of Information. His website is
[2]https://ico.org.uk/ and his helpline number is 0303 1231113.  His staff
may ask you to exhaust our internal complaints procedure if you choose to
complain to his office now.
 
Kind Regards
 
Complaints and Information Team
Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
[3]www.wigan.gov.uk
[4]www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
[5]www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
 
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or
any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the
information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.
This email together with any files transmitted with it are confidential
and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom they are
addressed. The information may be covered by legal professional privilege.
Do not copy, disclose or distribute the information. If you are not the
addressee, please contact the sender and immediately delete this email and
any attachments'
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
 
>>Corporate Logo<<
 
>>Corporate Disclaimer<<
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and
intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom
they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please
notify the system manager.

Email may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded
for legal purposes.

As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this
email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the
exemptions in the Act.

This footnote also confirms that this email has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses.
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
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2. https://ico.org.uk/
3. file:///D:\WTSRV\Profiles\k_macd\Application%20Data\Microsoft\Signatures\www.wigan.gov.uk
4. file:///D:\WTSRV\Profiles\k_macd\Application%20Data\Microsoft\Signatures\www.twitter.com\wigancouncil
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