brailey

Dear Cllr. Brailey. would you please tell me how long your council has been advising the public to dispose of hazardous waste (low energy light bulbs/CFLs) in the black bin collection?

Can you also advise how much of this toxic material has already been dumped in landfill and the name of the person responsible for the policy.

Sincerely, Gordon Bray.

You will appreciate I do not know all the details of every item in the council. I do not even know to that which you refer. Perhaps you would give some details. The detail would be useful and then I can respond in a more appropriate way.

Dear Cllr. Brailey, thank you for your prompt reply. Having some low energy light bulbs (CFLs) to dispose of and knowing they contained toxic mercury I rang the council to find out what I should do with them. I was told by the Waste and Recycling Department to "wrap them up in paper and put them in the black bin".

Thank you once again for bringing this to my attention. I have raised the issue with my recycling manager and he in turn has spoken with his staff. There are two different directives for disposal of light bulbs. If its a standard light bulb one is advised to wrap and dispose through the normal waste system. If its a low energy bulb the information changes in that it should be disposed of at a recycling centre in the appropriate way.

Our people have, once again been advised of the correct procedure to ensure we do give the correct advice on the method of disposal, however we could not find the individual who gave wrong advice if this was given. I am sure that you are fully aware of how to dispose of such an item. I once again thank you for your email

Dear Cllr. Brailey, as you have not responded to my queries in my e-mail of 15th February 2011 it must be assumed that your council has no idea how much hazardous waste has been dumped in landfill through the black bin collection. Responsibility for implementing regulations regarding hazardous waste by your council must surely be the sole responsibility of the recycling manager.

Please give me the name of the recycling manager and your assurance that you will be investigating how this serious blunder happened and taking appropriate disciplinary action.

Firstly we do not advise people to place any toxic waste in the black bag. Therefore, we would expect the toxic waste in the black bag and therefore to landfill to be ZERO! If you believe that we have miss informed anyone please advise when this advice was given and the name of the individual. However we have investigated and we are not able to identify anyone who gave this advice.

Dear Cllr. Brailey, my call to the Waste and Recycling department of your council was made on the !st February 2011. I made it quite clear that I was calling to find out where to dispose of hazardous waste - that is low energy light bulbs/CFLs.

The person I spoke to consulted colleagues before advising me to "wrap the light bulbs in paper and put them in the black bin". I do have the name of the person but will not provide it as this may result in this employee carrying the can for your recycling manager's incompetence.

Your approach in this matter Councillor Brailey seems to be one of defending the incompetence of your council rather than attending to the more important issue of why hazardous waste may have been put in black bins for dumping in landfill, possibly for years. This is surely an opportunity for you to overcome failings in your council and justify the statement on your website that "By improving the way in which we manage all wastes classified as hazardous we reduce the risk they might pose now and in the future".

Why not use your good offices to raise awareness of the need to dispose of hazardous waste in an appropriate manner? Use the press and the council website. I am doing my bit by reporting this issue in the South Molton section of my website the North Devon Link.

Naturally as part of the Council it is my job to ensure things are carried out in the appropriate way and correctly and that procedures and precesses are maintained. However, I can only relay what I have been advised. You are making assumptions that may or may not be accurate, in that you are stating my manger is incompetent when you clearly have no basis to make this statement, because, the manager may have correctly advised the individual who's name you are not offering (therefore I cannot ask anyone to interview the person thus cannot get to the bottom of your complaint). It is possible that an individual is given correct advice but makes a mistake. That does not mean they are a bad person but human.

By not advising us of the name you might have compounded others being given wrong advice, however, I am reassured that our people have been briefed again to try to eradicate any wrong information or misinformation being given.

I can assure you all of our personnel are highly valued and we do our very best to ensure we give the best service and advice, yes sometimes we may get it wrong and for that I apologise.

Certainly Cllr Brailey MBE. is maintaining the standards set by his two predecessors, Cllrs. Harrison and Prowse so it would appear that we and our children will have nothing to fear from toxins as the amount dumped in landfill according to Cllr. Brailey is ZERO! So why did his staff advise me to put hazardous waste in the black bin?

Cllr. Brailey declined to provide the name of his recycling manager - here it is: Gary Pilling, Head of Works and Recycling Services.

This is an e-mail from Cllr. David Worden received 16th April 2011 listing replies to questions asked of Cllr Brailey:

"As promised I asked the Leader of the Council (Des Brailey) the following at the Full Council Meeting on Wednesday evening ...

Question - What research has been carried out by NDC and what is being done to inform the public of the dangers of disposing low energy light bulbs?

Reply – If anyone phones in we tell them to wrap them and take them to one of our waste recycling depots. If it is a standard light bulb they can be wrapped and disposed in the black bin.

Note: The council is still indicating that low energy light bulbs can be black binned for disposal in landfill. (28th June 2011.)

It is February 2012 and no press statement has been issued by Cllr. Des Brailey MBE indicating that he has no intention of dealing with the council's dumping of hazardous waste in landfill. Clll. David Worden has been contacted and will take the matter up with the present Leader of the council Cllr. Brian Greenslade.

It appears that no press statement was issued by Brailey - no surprises there then! A request to comply with the decision of the council to issue a press statement will be made to the present Leader Cllr. Brian Greenslade.