As you can imagine, I get literally thousands of emails a day here in the ops room at the old cliff top mansion. Here are a couple that recently slipped through the proverbial, both on the hot (and smelly) topic of our incompetent council's inability to run an effective rubbish collection service.First off, reader Steve:
The council collects wheelie bins fortnightly and in this heat you get maggots crawling out of 'em like happened to me the other week. It's not pleasant at all, and if you go on holiday and haven't planned it round the wheelie bin day, the bin could be there for four weeks. OMG!
Hmmm. Planning your hols around Thanet Council's rubbish rubbish collection eh? But you're lucky, Steve, at least you have a wheelie bin! A different but identically named reader from Ramsgate writes:
I just read your 'Load of Rubbish' entry. I could not agree more. I live on the West Cliff and we do not have wheelie bins. Every night when I walk my dog on the promenade I look down and see the thousands of wheelie bins down in the port that are getting blown over and broken. I contacted TDC about when I could expect to receive my wheelie bins and I was told that there was no future plan to provide them to my street. They then told me the ones that are down in the port are replacement wheelie bins.
I explained to them many of the people on my street put their rubbish out the night before. The animals get into them and make a mess on the sidewalks and no one ever cleans it up. Providing wheelie bins on our street would help stop the rubbish mess made by the animals, cut down on the nearly nonexistent road sweeping, and would help keep Thanet beautiful. Of course these words fell on deaf ears.
These mindless idiots that we have appointed to help make our island run better cannot see the forest for the trees. I am open to suggestions on how we can make them see the light. In the mean time I think the residents of Ramsgate can start by putting out their rubbish the morning of pick up. If this is not possible then each of us should take enough pride in where they live to clean up the rubbish mess made by the animals in front of our own homes instead of waiting for the nonexistent road sweepers to clean it up.
Fair point, Steve 2. But why exactly are the council storing thousands of 'replacement' wheelie bins down at the port, when there are urban areas that desperately need them? Answers on the usual electronic postcard, please.
22 comments:
Our council is less than perfect. Fact. But to blame them for the weather and flies laying eggs? Ludicrous.
However I like Steve Two's idea, 'don't put the bins out too early, take a bit of pride and clean up if the place is a mess and exercise your vote at the next election'. Sensible, positive, mature, wrong blog.
A little voice in my head just said 'why should I clear up the mess when I can spend the time photographing and complaining about it?' Then I remembered I'm an adult and it's the right thing to do - and I can still use my vote whenever I get the chance. Happy days!
What you are ignoring there is that this sort of thing does not happen in other council's. They are not perfect either but at least they seem to get the basics right which this bunch of no-hopers cant even do.
Our square recently recieved a letter from the council on a similar subject. It advised us on ways to tackle the seagull-induced litter problem, with ideas like "use thicker binbags", "use 2 binbags" and "put your rubbish out as late as possible". Whilst these seem like reasonable ideas, I don't really think they're a solution; 1) those evil gulls wouldn't be put off by a thick bin bag and 2) i put my rubbish out minutes before the bin men come and there's always a gull waiting for me to walk away before it pounces on the bags again!
For our square, wheelie bins aren't an option, so the only real answer would be a bin shed, or large communual bin. But I don't see this happening as it would cost the council money!
Michelle
How nice of you to drop in from Planet Cecil Square, 11:52am. Your suggestion that nobody should complain about the way our rubbish council runs its rubbish collection has all the hallmarks of the Jurassic Junta. 'Oh no, it can't be our fault! It must be the idiot electorate!'
BTW, any time you need help for those voices in your head, Dr Fraudstein, my celebrity psychologist, would be only too happy to oblige. For a fee.
It occurs to me that tdc have no clue on how to run Margate, Broadstairs, Ramsgate for what they are - seaside towns.
Some examples from Bognor:
Blue flags fluttering high and proud on applicable beaches, and a big sign welcomes you to its near vertical, rocky blue flagged beach.
Recyclying bins on beaches - dog ends, plastics, newspapers.
Recycling runs on town each week - paper, bottles, plastics. All restaurant/shop owners take part.
Festival a couple of weeks ago, open air concert on the beach tonight, and every week until September.
Portable, but clean and open toilets on the beach, and in the town centre.
There used to be a saying 'as common as maggots in a June dustbin' or in this case, July.
I try to put as little as possible in my black bin (recycle as much as possible) and anything that is in there is bagged securely but as shops give out fewer plastic bags now, I have to use those plastic things some post comes in or buy binbags.
It is awkward when we go away if we're going to miss the bin collection so (don't tell anyone) but I sometimes put my rubbish in the street bin securely wrapped with nothing to identify me in there. At least that gets empty daily.
I go out, see a binbag strewn across the road, clear it up, putting the rubbish in a binbag, leave the binbag out, the seagulls attack it, I go out, see a binbag strewn across the road, clear it up, putting the rubbish in a binbag, leave the binbag out, the seagulls attack it........
I would not push for communal bins as my experience of them when living in flats at Chartham was that every blighter from miles around came to fill them up with their own rubbish and generally trash the area. This led the kindly council to send a letter to the residents telling them that if "they" continued to abuse the system they would receive enforcement letters leading to a substantial fine for non-compliance.
I used to live in Augusta Road and I did clean up the pavement after the seagulls and cats got into my rubbish, yet the road outside my flat was still covered in litter and crap, why? Because even if you sweep and clean your "patch" other people will still kick their rubbish away from their part of the pavement so they don't look like they're the dirty ones.
Can we just go back to the point of the wheelie bins at the port? Like the man said, why are they replacement ones? Why can't we get them put out around the isle? They are doing no good sitting there. To hear that the council can spend money on 'telling people how to stop the gulls' etc but not use the money to distribute the bins is so typical of this council.
GET THE BLOODY BINS OUT TDC!!!
sorry, just came over a little flustered there...will go and calm down.
Why replacement bins? Have the ones already handed out failed to do the job properly? I've had mine since the first lot were wheeled out and it's still doing the job ok.
Could it be that our incompetent council over-ordered and now has thousands of wheelie bins down at the port that it cannot use? It would be just like them to miscalculate the numbers, not taking into account the areas where they cannot be intorduced or the fact that some of the lorries they bought a few years ago are not equiped for wheelies? Just a thought.
4:50pm I think your outburst was fully justified!
I don't understand the wheelie bin port scenario either and I understand from my sources that most of them are in fact broken due to weather, people vandalising the ones they can get to and probably gnomes. Why have them all there open to the elements to get damaged when they could go to people who will look after them and put them to use instead of leaving them redundant...??
Hi. Steve (1) here.
I agree that wheelie bins are a great idea but I was not complaining about the wheelie bins, I was complaining about fortnightly collections from any household.
As far as anon @ 11:52am's comments I AM Blaming the council for flies laying eggs in my bin.
In all my years of paying taxes to local councils I have never opened a bin lid to see the lid completely covered in hundreds of maggots (not a nice sight I am sure you will agree) but as it takes 8 days for a fly egg to turn into a maggot thats not really surprising is it when bins were collected once a week.
Now in the name of Saving the enviroment and to allow councils to recycle 40% of household waste by 2010, authorities will have to pay £150 a tonne to the EU if they fail to reach the above target. WE are forced to put up with this crap. I have even had a leaflet through my door from a company offering to clean wheelie bins of maggot infestation etc so this is enough of a problem for someone to make a living out of it.
Most councils in the UK still have weekly bin collections and where they don't the practice is very very unpopular so if other councils can do it why not ours?
I complained to Thanet council a few weeks back and received an email (Below) detailing how to stop this in future. Oh and I am still waiting for a reply from the Waste Collection Manager which was supposed to arrive within 10 working days from 16/06/09 Ho Hum.
To the Council. I don't really want to wrap my food up 2 or 3 times and have to tie it with a pretty pink bow, I don't really want to have to seal up my house with duct tape all around the edges of the windows incase a fly breached the defenses and lands on my cats dinner, all I want to do is chuck my used crap in a bag and have someone come and pick it up and throw it in a dump, isn't that what I pay you for? .Just do the decent thing and collect my bins every week like you have done for the last 50 odd ******g years you ******s
Sorry about the ramble but this is a HEALTH HAZARD and should not be something any of us should have to deal with under any circumstances.
Thanet Councils tips for stopping Maggots and flies.
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Tips for dealing with smell and infestation problems in wheeled bins
There are several things you can do to reduce the frequency and extent of smells and infestation, especially in the warmer months:
If possible keep your bin out of direct sunlight and away from open windows and doors.
Keep the bin lid shut at all times. If you notice flies, maggots or smells, check that your bin lid fits securely when it is closed.
Do not leave food waste including cat or dog food exposed in the home so that flies can lay their eggs on it before it is put into your black bin.
Wrap all food waste in old newspaper and then in carrier bags making sure that the excess air is squeezed out before tying.
Empty any solids from disposable nappies into the toilet before bagging and putting in your black bin.
Regularly clean and disinfect your bin. If you do not like to use chemicals, hot water with washing up liquid or bi-carbonate of soda is an alternative.
Compost as much organic waste as possible. A leaflet is enclosed for your information.
Most importantly try and reduce the amount of food thrown away, particularly meat and meat products. A recent national survey revealed that over 20% of all food bought in supermarkets is put into the bin without being used at all.
Flies can only get to your refuse at two locations, either in your kitchen or in the black bin. Isolating the food source from the fly is the best way of preventing such infestations and if you follow the guidelines above you should not have problems in the future.
Another point to note is that it is the fly that is the health problem, not the maggot. Maggots, although many people find them disgusting and difficult to deal with, are not a direct threat to health.
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Let me assist you poor helpless articles:
http://www.refuse-bags.co.uk/dustbin-black-100ltr-p-1369.html
You might also need this:
http://www.loorolls.com/File/nicky_elite_quilted_toilet_rolls_10x4pk_2ply_white.asp?catid=20
Quite why you need to tell us about dustbins and loo rolls when the useless council you evidently support has bought and is paying to store thousands of unused wheelie bins down at the port is beyond me.
Funny how one of the only times Mr Ezekial has been in Ramsgate this year was because of a load of old rubbish - says it all really doesn't it?
We had a friend and her six year old son visiting from Finland. The poor little boy could not get over how filthy Margate was.
Does this council not realize what a terrible job they are doing for tourism in the area?
1.50pm:
I don't support the council actually. What I support is action rather than whingeing.
Buy a dustbin and put your rubbish in it. The loo rolls are for someone (presumably not you) to wipe your arse.
I have bought dustbins. I do put my rubbish in them. You have still not sufficiently explained why I should not complain that the council has thousands of wheelie bins rotting down at the port which should have been deployed in the areas that sorely need them.
Maybe you should use the loo rolls to wipe the snot off your nose as you are clearly a bit 'green' (not in the environmental sense).
snork!
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