Monday, 6 April 2015

Extra work for Rangers, as domestic waste re-branded 'commercial'

The controversial Government decision to re-brand domestic refuse from boats as commercial waste has caused fly tipping and customer confusion throughout the Broads, as Local Authorities have decided to terminate free waste collection services at key riverside locations around Yarmouth and Broadland.

The Broads Authority have faced up to the problem by introducing river-based waste collection services across the Broads, with the Charles Collier running the first trial this weekend on the River Bure near to St Benets Abbey - spotted here by famous Broads photographer Lord Paul of Sealand.  


"This is very much a trial" said a Broads Authority spokesperson, "as the Ranger boats can only carry one domestic sized wheelie bin at a time, or 2 if the Rangers leave their packed lunches on the bank."

"We are currently undergoing a competitive tender process for larger scale compactor wherries. Local boatyards will be invited to tender, as long as they read the London Gazette, before we award the contract to an Irish company as usual."

The Authority will need to differentiate between domestic waste from owners of private boats, which is domestic, and domestic waste from hire boat customers, which is commercial. Hire boat yards are being asked to provide their customers with special red 'Broads National Park' bin bags so that the Rangers can identify and collect the 'commercial' waste but leave the rest for the Local Authorities to collect in the normal way.

Dr John Pikeman called the re-branding decision "completely illogical", given that the refuse from hire boats was clearly not commercial waste. "Why would anyone want to change a perfectly good name into something inaccurate?" he said "It's ridiculous and will cause confusion for visitors."