Ashfield big spring clean brings in a coffin and 249 tonnes of rubbish

The district’s third ‘Big Ashfield Spring Clean’ saw residents dispose more of their excess waste through kerb side collections and free bulky waste collection.The campaign started on February 10, and was rolled out across the district over three weeks.

Coun David Martin, Cabinet Member for Streets, Parks and Town Centres said residents had “really embraced” project and said 249 tonnes of kerb side waste and 9561 bulky waste items were collected from 4376 households.

Ashfield District Council had continued with full waste collections during the lockdown, when many households used the time to have clear out.

In May, the council’s ‘Bag It!’ campaign invited residents to leave an extra bag of household waste with their bin collection, resulting in an additional 388 tonnes of waste being collected over two weeks.

The ‘Skip into Summer’ also saw around 80 ‘flying skips’ travelling across the district over five consecutive Saturdays collecting general and garden waste and household objects with more than 154 tonnes of waste collected.

The most popular bulky waste items were mattresses, with 886 being collected, closely followed by 762 settees, with the most unusual item was an empty coffin which was picked up from one resident’s garden.

According to the council, the unusual item was booked as a “bulky waste collection” and left outside the property for collection.

Coun Jason Zadrozny, Leader of Ashfield District Council, said “We have collected over 790 tonnes of additional waste, all free of charge from residents this year. These campaigns have a significant impact on the district and on resident’s lives. We want to instil a sense of pride in our communities and ensuring they are clean plays a huge part of this.

“As well as collecting extra waste, we work with community groups and residents on litter picks, and our Community Safety Teams engage with local communities and issue fixed penalty notices to those caught littering and dog fowling.

"I’d to thank all residents that got involved with the BIG Spring Clean, Bag it! and Skip into Summer campaigns this year.”

Following from the success – the BIG Ashfield Spring Clean will be back again in February, 2021.

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