By Richard Evans

Copyright dailypost

A North Wales resident waited 15 months for their garden waste to be collected – despite paying extra for the service. A Denbighshire County Council (DCC) councillor revealed the jaw-dropping wait for what should be a monthly service, which costs from £45 a year.

Residents who pay the fee can have grass cuttings, garden prunings, leaves, bark, flowers, branches and twigs, bark wood and shavings, and plants collected in their “green bins”.

Alyn Valley councillor Terry Mendies confirmed the resident from Llanarmon-yn-Iâl , who waited more than a year for a collection, was now getting her garden waste collected. But, he had also helped other residents who had experienced delays with the paid-for service.

A council spokesperson confirmed that there had been an issue with a resident’s green waste which was “resolved some wekes ago”.

This is the latest problem to hit the county’s waste and recycling service which has been in crisis since the botched launch of a new Trolibocs system in June 2024, with reports of missed collections and claims of rubbish piling up on the streets.

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A Freedom of Information request, published this month, revealed skyrocketing sickness levels in the department’s workforce, since the introduction of the new recycling system.

Cllr Mendies said: “As you are aware, we’ve had issues since the rollout of the Trolibocs, and the autopsy is ongoing. But it is also the green bins. I had a resident who paid for the service but didn’t get a bin collection for 15 months. That problem has now been resolved, thankfully, and they are now getting the service that they have paid for.”

He added: “The council says it only happens in rural areas, but it doesn’t. I’ve spoken to a couple of my colleagues, and there are missed green bin collections in Prestatyn and Rhyl. It’s an ongoing problem. And I don’t seem to get answers from the relevant head of service.

“I’ve sent an email out to all the other councillors to ask if they have got (residents with) missed green bin collections. What I’d like to do is compile a list of people who have had missed green bin collections for a month or more, not just one or two.”

Cllr Mendies said the resident who waited 15 months “didn’t get a refund” but he understood that they “won’t have to pay next year”.

He added: “Of course, this is unfair. You and I, out there in the real world, if you pay for a service, you expect that service to be carried out, but DCC seems to think they are exempt. It is totally unfair.

“The biggest people who are hit or the ones I’m most concerned about are the pensioners, the elderly, the infirm. They can’t put any green waste in the back of the car and take it to the tip. They are paying for the service and just not getting what they are paying for.

“As you know my ward is quite small, but I’ve had a case in Llanarmon, the one I’ve just highlighted, and another in Llandegla, and they didn’t get their bin collected for four months. It is just crazy stuff.

A council spokeswoman said: “In response to Cllr Mendies’ comments, we can confirm that there was an issue with a resident’s green waste in the ward that he represents as a local councillor. As Cllr Mendies himself has stated, the issue has been resolved and was resolved some weeks ago.

“In terms of the other areas in the county that Cllr Mendies refers to, specifically Rhyl and Prestatyn, the waste service has not received a query on missed green collections from these ward councillors.“If residents believe our crews have missed their garden waste collection, or any other waste collection, they can report it via the appropriate channels.”

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