A MACHYNLLETH town councillor has demanded that Powys County Council addresses concerns over recycling collections, after claiming the current situation is a “complete shambles”.

Cllr Monica Atkins said she was fed up with collection problems that sometimes saw bins only partially emptied and sometimes not emptied at all, and blamed a lack of local knowledge after Machynlleth-based workers were moved to cover Newtown.

While Cllr Atkins said the problem was particularly bad at Trem yr Allt, she said it was an issue experienced across the whole town.

She said: “The recycling collection is a complete shambles. Sometimes the bins are emptied on the correct day, sometimes they’re half-emptied and sometimes they’re not emptied at all and then they have to send a small vehicle out.

“To me something is completely wrong. We’re paying twice for the collections.

“This is the third time since December that Cllr Michael Williams has had to help me clear up the recycling problem.

“The problem is that they’ve taken our boys from Machynlleth to Newtown. If they left our boys there they know Machynlleth inside out, but they’ve brought in people from Rhayader to do it. It’s a lack of local knowledge.”

Cllr Atkins said that she had been in contact with Cllr Williams and that they had been monitoring the situation to stop rubbish being spread around the town.

See this week’s Machynlleth & Llanidloes editions for the full story, in shops and online now