"Binmageddon" as Town Centre sweeping and collections cut radically

Town Centre residents and businesses complain of overflowing waste at busy Saturday night trading times after cuts to street sweeping and collections in Shrewsbury Town Centre have caused
overflowing bins and litter over the streets at busy weekend times.

Contractor Idverde had formerly been collecting bins and sweeping streets for Shropshire Council in two slots every weekend - morning (6am-10am) and afternoon (2pm-6pm). The afternoon slot has now been wiped out entirely, with workers given just a week’s notice of
changes.

Local councillors and Town Centre residents have been quick to begin campaigning to reintroduce the collections and sweeping, citing the detrimental impact of rubbish on the streets on the night time economy and cleanliness of the area for residents.

Shrewsbury councillor Alex Wagner said: “The council are meant to be promoting Shrewsbury’s night time economy and creating a nice
space for residents to live, work, and add to the local economy. These changes fly in the face of efforts to improve the Town Centre and have rightly caused an immediate backlash - after all, almost the most basic things to get right are bin collections and street sweeping.

Several local businesses and residents have gotten in touch with me and mentioned the state of the bins at the busiest times last Saturday.  Someone on Swan Hill coined the term ‘binmageddon’ for the state of the streets and levels of litter, overflowing bins, and non-existent sweeping. This will only get worse over time as poor maintenance creates more and more jobs to do, more and more of which aren’t fulfilled.

I’ve written to Shropshire Council officers and to the contractors responsible, urging them to get together, reverse this cut, and take more pride in our Town Centre.”