Waste Scheme puts Seagulls to Flight

A group of Milford Haven residents are having a well deserved lie in - thanks to a new food waste collection service.

Residents of Stratford Road used to be woken up regularly on the mornings of their weekly refuse collections by the noise of foraging seagulls going through their rubbish sacks.

Now, however, thanks to Pembrokeshire County Council's new food waste collection service their unwanted early morning ‘wake-up calls' appear to be over!

"Those gulls can't get at our food anymore," said one pleased resident. "Sometimes they'd make such a racket they'd be waking us up at four in the morning looking for food."

Stratford Road residents are among 6,000 residents taking part in the first phase of the Council's new food waste collection scheme.

They have been given a small food waste caddy for their kitchens and a larger food waste bin to be placed out for a weekly collection.

Both have lockable lids that prevent animals and birds attacking the contents.

"There are many benefits to using this new scheme, not least the fact we are reducing the amount of food being sent to landfill and recycling it to make compost," said Councillor Ken Rowlands, Cabinet Member for Environmental and Regulatory Services.

"In the first week alone we collected over eight tones of food," he said.

"But to also hear that residents aren't being woken so early because seagulls can't get at the food is great news and a welcome by-product of the scheme.

"Not only will the streets be cleaner because the gulls won't be ripping bags open, they'll be quieter too meaning we can all reap the rewards of using this excellent service when it eventually gets rolled out countywide."