refuse collections

fiendishly

Seriously, why do people get so upset about the refuse and recycling collections being delayed due to the snow? I have just read yet another ranting letter to the local rag saying how outrageous it is that the refuse crews don't manage to get down their icy cul-de-sac to get their refuse and how they should get a refund of their council tax if they don't return this instant to collect it - how dare they wait till next week :eek:
Get a life, for God's sake; those collection trucks are massive and I would much rather wait a week than risk them sliding about on the ice. 'Health and safety gone mad' my a**e, the bin men work hard enough without risking slipping and falling over whilst dragging your heavy wheelie bin or carrying your box of recycling.

rant over, thanks for listening

vikingaero

Here's a winter tale for you:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2918878

shaun_from_Africa

Seriously, why do people get so upset about the refuse and recycling collections being delayed due to the snow?

Maybe because people are getting fed up with paying astronomical sums in council tax, vehicle tax and fuel duty and seem to be getting buga all back in return.
This year my council tax is £1816, and god knows how much fuel duty has gone to the government.

Following the heavy snow, the roads around here were totally undrivable, and no one but an idiot would have gone anywhere near the pavements.
To be fair, some were almost undrivable before the snow due to the potholes that still haven't been touched following the snow and frost last winter.
If the council used some of the tax to prepare for winter (after all, it doesn't creep up by surprise. It happens around the same time every year) maybe the bin men would actually be able to get out and collect the refuse.
I could understand it if I was in a remote part of the country, but I live about 5 miles from Gatwick airport on the edge of a very large town.

junkmayle

Except, fiendishly, our collections are fortnightly. The bins are full to the brim. Either bigger bins are needed to allow for missed collections, or collections need to revert to weekly. My plastics tub blew over last night and now plastic waste is all over the street and I sure as fook am not picking it up. I daren't put the tub away as they may or may not turn up before the next scheduled collection. Who knows?

mcjordi

the council round here actually made my street worse.. they sent in the gritter and plough which in turn made the snow into a wet sand consistency. which was even worse to drive on than snow, whats more i spent the best part of the day clearing the snow from a 100 yard section of the road which made it passable..grrrr

edit- the council missed one weeks collection, came the week after.

System

Maybe we get annoyed because we're left with loads of rubbish that won't fit in the bin..

pink_princess

I ve missed collection for two weeks ,can t say im that bothered as we recycle most of our rubbish so the bin still isn t full with nearly three weeks rubbish in it .

System

I totally agree with you fiendishly. I had to walk to work this week - which was hard enough doing without idiots putting their bins out - honestly!! we can't drive our cars because of the weather...a lot of people couldn't make it to work because of the weather...do you really think refuse collections are going to happen?! Putting your bin out in the middle of the street only makes it harder for everyone to get around!!grrr

Our bins only get uplifted every 2 weeks too, but its common sense!! honestly, if you can hardly make it into work, what makes you think the refuse staff can? and even if they do make it to work, why would they be going out on the roads with their big lorries when the same local council are sending out gritters...in big lorries?! Would the same people who complain about their rubbish not being picked up, not them be complaining about how 1 lorry got stuck trying to get through the snow, leading to the gritters not getting down their street?!

Sorry, went a bit overboard there - dramatic situation I know, but the bin situation annoys me soo much! I wouldn't want to drive on the roads in these weather conditions, so why would I expect anyone else to?

valk_scot

Our council set up rubbish collection points at areas that were accessable by car, including my local Tesco car park. Obviously this won't suit everyone but it was quite handy for me given that I was having to go there for food anyway, and I took rubbish bags for my elderly carless neighbours too. There was a standard bin lorry for bagged general waste, and a recycling lorry to take our normal boxes of recycling. It kept the levels down at our end anyway. Also we've been told we can use our big garden waste wheelie bin for overflow general rubbish and put it out beside our normal wheelie bin at the next collection to be emptied. We've been told there will be a double collection on the next scheduled day, to clear the backlog.

Not perfect of course but quite sensible thinking by our council in a difficult situation for everyone. Oh, the local dumps were open too once the road access was safe, for recycling and waste disposal.

marleyboy

In certain (indeed many) circumstances, bins are generally packed to the brim. This would be fair enough for the council to miss a collection, so long as they practice common sense as to the reasons a late collection could well mean bins being overfull, or bags stacked so high as to obstruct the closure of a bin lid.

However, the council are "quick" to refuse to take collections for a variety of reasons, no matter how petty, from overflowing to not being as easily accessible as they want them to be, when it comes to complaints FROM the refuse collections, such common sense flies out of the window to them, giving people enough ammunition to have a rant about it. Particularly if a week later than scheduled, they simply refuse to take the rubbish because the bins are too full.

scottishminnie

I set out to walk to the local post office earlier in the week. No mean feat given that we are well out into the country. The trip was easy until I got to the main street where people had whelled their bins out onto the pavement where there was only a single foot width of a track as it was.

Unfortunatley as I negotiated round about the 3rd wheely bin I fell against it rather heavily. Rather fortuitously it landed on it's side on the front path of the owners house. I made sure to close the garden gate - wouldn't want anyone else slipping.

Apart from the obvious reason of access for bin lorries impacting refuse collections in some areas the refuse collectors have been taking on snow clearing and gritting duties so they simply can't be in 2 places at once.