Did you know that it is held among some Denbighshire county council officers that of all the residents of the county those in Rhuthun/Ruthin are the most likely to grumble. Yes, in Rhuthun, if it’s worth mentioning, it’s worth moaning.
Take the new waste collection procedures (from June 2024). As of this week, we are beginning to see our new trolley boxes arriving. Inevitably, this has sparked comment.
We all know we should be recycling to the maximum we can and we must reduce landfill. There’s all sorts of more tangible benefits from the new system: reduced costs, weekly recycleables collection, employment. But in future we, the people, need to put in just a little effort to pre-sort our recyclable waste. It isn’t difficult, all our neighbouring authorities do it and it won’t take much time. But still we complain.
Conwy hasn’t ‘reverted back’ and in fact has never had Denbighshire’s system. Denbighshire is catching up with Conwy. Denbighshire’s recycling percentage is 66 per cent and Conwy’s 69 per cent
You can look at our negative image in two ways. First, Rhuthun residents are always ready to engage. But, secondly, we see only the cost and never the value. We seem to be ‘half-empty’ sorts. Social media have done nothing to help and indeed have encouraged this perception.
Why might we in Rhuthun be inclined to have a go at everything and everybody? Perhaps it’s because of our position of relative prosperity that means we are never actually content with anything... I wonder why we cannot sometimes just see something positive.
In terms of waste, have we really forgotten the times when those of us who wanted to recycle had to visit Park Road car park and shove our tins into one skip, our bottles into another (with separate holes for clear, blue and green glass) and newspapers into a third? These days, we’ve never had it so easy.