IT seems as if the new refuse system has weathered the initial storm and a general opinion is building up that it is now making for a cleaner town.

At a meeting of Barry Town Council on Monday several members of the authority praised the new system.

Coun. Terry Price said that he felt that people had tended to destroy the scheme before it got off the ground.

“I don’t see this proving to be objectionable to the business people.

“I feel that the streets of the town are much cleaner,” he said.

“The scheme is basically good and people should give it a fair chance.

“The people of the town are now taking pride in putting their plastic liners out.”

Coun. R.D. Williams said it was a change to see the tidy liners instead of an assortment of buckets, bowls, and cardboard boxes.

“This is a revolution in refuse collection in Barry and there is bound to be a certain amount of resentment.

“For Heaven’s sake let’s give it a chance,” he said.

“We all must be a little patient so that this scheme can be given a fair chance.”

The Deputy mayor (Coun. George Mackillican), supporting the banning of back-lane collections, said that in some lanes the lorry had to reverse right down it.

This was a dangerous procedure especially where children played in the lanes.

However, Coun. Len Heffernan said that he felt it wrong the way things had been forced on people.

He had never seen so much distress among old folk since the introduction of the scheme, which involved carrying the plastic bin liners to the front of the houses.

Referring to the people still putting their refuse in the back lanes, Coun. Heffernan told the council: “You’re bound to win, but I think you have not gone about it in the right way.”

Ald. Tom Jones said, “I found it much easier to take the bin out the back.

“There is no doubt in my mind that this scheme is proving very successful.”

Coun. Mrs Queenie Mitchell, chairman of the Health Committee, said there had been lots of small problems which were being ironed out, but she felt that on the whole the scheme was working very well.

She said the corporation employees had decided not to use back lanes anymore.

Although she had made an earlier statement saying that back-lane collections would be made where possible, she did not at the time understand the width of the refuse vehicle.

In answer to Coun. Brian Hutchings who criticised the way the public relations aspect has been handled at the outset, the Town Clerk (Mr J. Clements Colley) said that at a crucial point where the scheme was under consideration he fell ill and certain things which should have been done were not.

In a circular from the Polythene Product Committee of the Packaging Films Manufacturers’ Association, it is said the thickness of the liners was not considered likely to present a hazard and the probability of them causing accidental suffocation when placed over the head was negligible.