Unemptied bins causing problems for bakery in Southbourne

Martyn McCauley is the owner of Tasty Bakes Bakery and was left unhappy when his waste was not collected.

“Bins were overflowing, black bins that you pushed were overflowing with bags on the top. It's a matter of time before rubbish is in the street because of foxes and rats that are attracted," he said.

"There's absolutely no concern about these problems (from the council). We take preventive measures but there is only so much we can do.”

Mr McCauley's bins are meant to be emptied each Tuesday, however on September 7 that was not the case.

“Every Tuesday general waste is collected, until today (Friday September 10), it was not,” he added.

“I sent three emails and called four times saying it needed to be sorted and it wasn’t. As soon as I said about the Echo they emptied mine, but not the commercial waste of other businesses.”

Mr McCauley told the Echo that running a bakery means the business needs to be on top of its hygiene and uncollected waste can impact his trade.

The 46-year-old added that the issue is the business can not keep excess waste outside as that can attract foxes and rats, but he can also not store it inside his property due to hygiene regulations.

In response a spokesperson for BCP Council said: "The commercial bins at the commercial business are ours and are scheduled for collection on a narrow access vehicle. Unfortunately, the bin was missed due competing work issues, but the matter is now being attended to."

The Tasty Bakes owner has a contract with the authority, when they could use a national service, but he said he wants to support the area.

The following week on Tuesday, September 14, Mr McCauley contacted the Echo after his bins were left unemptied once more.

BCP Council did then collect his waste, but a day later than scheduled on Wednesday, September 15,

When contacted for further comment the authority referred to their previous statement.