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Braintree: keen recycler "baffled" by heavy-handed council approach

7:00am Wednesday 6th August 2008

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By Mariam Ghaemi »

A conscientious recycler felt “intimidated” and “baffled” when a council officer cautioned her on her doorstep and said she could go to court for allegedly fly-tipping.

Marguerite Kramer, of Coggeshall Road, Bradwell, said she had “never been treated so appallingly” in her life when a Braintree Council recycling officer arrived at her home brandishing an address label picked up at the recycling point at the Marks Farm Tesco store in Braintree.

The 59-year-old, who suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome and asthma, said her and her partner visited recycling points a few times a week, always using the appropriate bins for their green waste.

All the education consultant could think of as the reason for the council officer’s unexpected visit was a rogue piece of paper containing her address had got mixed in with waste which did not belong to her when she took papers to be recycled, adding she usually burned personal details.

Ms Kramer, who is on incapacity benefit, said: “We do our best with this and it makes you feel absolutely paranoid and under surveillance and persecution.

“People going through the rubbish you take down to Tesco and looking for names and addresses - it’s like Big Brother.”

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time to fight back, braintree says...
9:02pm Thu 7 Aug 08

hi
I dont know if i have the time and energy to type all my veiws on this subject, where do i start, well we have been accused of the same thing, i know for sure i did not dump a letter with my wifes maiden name on at marks farm, yet the council where rude and would not take our side of things on board, to be honest they were very rude, even told us that if it happens agin they would pull us in, well my point is at this moment in time i was working for veolia, this is the french company that now runs our local recycling centre and all the others in essex, why would i fly tip at marks farm when i could have dumped it at work, the council officer even asked me if i knew off certain people and from this i got the impression someone was dumping rubbish at marks farm or stealing rubbish and going through it, so to the point, since my encounter i have on two occasions found rubbish in the street with the heading braintree district council on it, yet they r not intereasted, i have photos of there own cardboard bin at causeway house braintree with rubbish all around it, they tried to tell me it was private property, its still a workplace, they seem reluctant to treat themselves as they do us,but back to the recycling centres in essex, we as public are not getting a fair deal, i know this as i worked in tips all over essex and know exactly what is goig on, someone is making alot of money from all our work and effort,are they really intereasted in recycling or is it a token jesture to cover all the cash that passes though certain peoples hands, companies atre making big money from all this, we are not getting our rates reduced for our efforts,do you really know what goes on, what it is all about, how much cash is generated from it all, how much money for example do u reckon is earnt just from metel alone, how much is earnt from all the goodies we dump that are sold at bootfairs, this dose not go back in the tax payers pocket, i feel we are being hood winked, wanna know more, ask me, or ask the braintree and witham to ask me, be a good read too, lets have the debate, did u know that the recyclers in our tips pay cash each month to one guy who has all the recycling writes, i could be wrong but not fare wrong, why i get good information how much is collected and where it goes, its thousands those guys that have the orange hih viz jackets on and take your good stuff that you have had enough off are not taking it to better our planet, they are taking this to make a living, yeh they are recycling to a degree but its not for us, it dosent make my taxes any less in some ways, some of the recyclers work for veolia and also have the recyclig rights, there is a lack of equality in some areas,not all workers have the same rights, what really goes on im not sure, im stating all i say is dead right, ut please feel free to ask or challenge, and honest i could right for ours on this subject, this is only the tip of the ice berg, so back to my first piont, i feel through there actions braintree district council are hypocrites in some ways,they have accussed me of something that i have not done yet they do it them selves, one other question,why do we get piles of rubbish at marks farm and other areas, because they are not emptied enough,thats another issue, why are bdc not keeping up with the flow of rubbish that is put there.

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Marguerite Kramer, 59, who was left feeling like "a criminal," after recycling papers at her local Tesco Marguerite Kramer, 59, who was left feeling like "a criminal" following a council officer's caution at her home

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