It’s one of the most visible problems in Sheffield: bins. Walk around the city centre and it won’t be long before you come across large commercial bins cluttering up the street, or dumpsters so full that waste is falling out of them and a cluster of black bins has gathered around. If the council wants thousands more people to live in the city centre, and for Sheffield to attract more visitors from outside, we need to address the problem (as well as for obvious reasons of public health). But all those extra residents and businesses could make the issues worse.
So, what’s going wrong here? And why is a bin bag one company’s responsibility, but the moment it falls out of the bin it becomes another’s? We’ve been investigating to bring you the answers in today’s edition of Sheffield’s Big Questions.
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How bad is the problem?
We didn't have to go far to find examples. Setting off from Barker’s Pool, we walked up Carver Lane to find a number of overflowing bins behind the businesses on Holly Street. Most of the bins near the bars of West Street were well maintained but on Westhill Lane there was evidence of business fly tipping, with rolled up carpets and a commercial fridge left to rot on the pavement. On York Street, three overfilled red bins had letters from the council stuck to them saying storing them on the street is not permitted. When we asked several of the businesses in the area, no one seemed to know whose the bins are.
According to Peter Sephton, the chairman of city centre residents’ group Changing Sheff, the bin problem was particularly acute earlier this year. In February, The Star ran an article headlined “Epidemic of overflowing dumpsters harming city council drive for thousands more residents”. In the piece, Councillor Joe Otten, chair of the waste and street scene committee at Sheffield council, revealed they had set up a special group to tackle the “complex issue”.
Sephton says the situation has improved since then, but that trying to keep on top of it is like playing the game whack-a-mole. “After there is an improvement, the problems then slowly slide back or pop up in a different part of the city centre,” he says. “I’ve always believed that Sheffield has a massive potential to be a great tourist city but if it’s going to do that it needs to be kept looking clean.” And of course, waste attract rats and causes other health issues.
Whose job is it anyway?
This is where it gets complicated. It all depends on which bin we’re talking about.
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