A BETWS Ifan resident says getting a simple answer out of Ceredigion County Council as to why his recycling bin was not collected proved a frustrating experience and fears things will only get worse – both in terms of rubbish collections and the council’s response.

Wrenton Rogers, a retired chartered surveyor who spent nearly 30 years working for a local authority and managing refuse collection service, said he was told that his bin would not be collected that day and would have to be put out the following week as ‘the council had manpower and resources issues’.

Mr Rogers made several attempts to talk to someone at the council and said: “When I was finally telephoned by the waste service manager, she made known that on the day of our collection, about nine refuse collection vehicles were either in the for service/repair or had broken down.

“Thus some areas could not be collected, and in addition, there was a shortage of manpower to cover the county’s service on that day.”

Mr Rogers says he also contacted local councillor Lyndon Lloyd, who he says told him that since the council had stopped using the recycling site in Beulah, recycling waste was now being taken to Lampeter and that was now taking up more time for the crews.

“Sadly this is what today’s Local Government has reached, a council that has been subjected to cuts, restrictions and retraining of staff,” said Mr Rogers.

“Fnancial cuts have come from central government, but unfortunately most of the local authorities have not realised that the reductions in finance really mean they should look inwardly at themselves and not cut the services to the public. “

A spokesman for Ceredigion County Council said: “No changes have been implemented which should impact on the level of waste collection services delivered in Ceredigion. However, waste collections can, unfortunately, sometimes be disrupted by issues affecting the availability of vehicles and staff as well as access.

“Ceredigion County Council apologises when this is the case and it’s not always possible to deliver the level of service we would want or that customers have come to expect.

“When this happens efforts are made to communicate which waste streams are affected, why and what the advice is This information is available by visiting the Council’s website (www.ceredigion.gov.uk) or contacting 01545 572572.

“Taking into account the scale and scope of waste collection services across Ceredigion, the county council will continue in its efforts to provide as consistent and reliable level of service as possible.”