A COUNCILLOR is urging people to take responsibility for their own waste.

Cllr Arnold Woolley, of Buckley, is asking residents to reduce the amount of side waste, which is increasing across the town.

Side waste occurs when a black bin is full and householders add more black bin liners with waste in them on top and around their black bin.

Cllr Woolley said: "If people put residual waste in black bins and recyclable items in the correct place then people would get their rubbish all in.

"Many people are mixing residual and recycling and that is the problem.

"I think people should be a little more responsible. We are all in it together in this thing. We have got to take it seriously.

"These rubbish bags are all over the place, places where they shouldn't be. When they eventually break down into microdots they will all end up inside us where they are not supposed to be."

The Buckley town mayor said Flintshire Council's new system for combating side waste would cause chaos.

Cllr Woolley said the system means that side-waste offenders are contacted by officers who provide advice and information and if there is no change, a First Stage letter is sent.

Following no change, a Second Stage letter is sent and then a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN).

Cllr Woolley added: "From Steve O. Jones, I got back that since the change, Flintshire County Council has issued 1,500 First Warning Letters, about 100 Second Stage Notices and 2 Fixed Penalty Notice's.

"In all fairness, I believe that a whole lot of householders have no idea of the change in regulations, or the fact that FPNs are issuable in extreme cases.

"I remember thinking at the time that's going to cause come chaos.

"I think people's attitudes are that we pay our community charge and people assume it's up to the council to sort it out.

"The main frustration is, many of what's in the bags are recyclable

"When the nation is failing to hit waste targets and people aren't doing their bit, it's not good."

The Leader has previously reported issues of rubbish and fly-tipping across the whole of Flintshire.

Steve Jones, Streetscene and Transportation, previously told the Leader that the council is working hard to encourage all residents to recycle more of their waste.

The Council’s cabinet approved enforcement activity against those residents who continue to present side waste with their fortnightly domestic waste collection and this process is now underway.

He previously said: "The process provides residents with two warnings before a fixed penalty notice is served and over 1,000 residents have received the first warning letter across the County.

"We do not record the figures by area however we are concentrating efforts in areas where local concerns about side waste have been raised by the community."