Wheelie Bin Laws & The Bin Gestapo
I have heard a few concerns in the village about the introduction of the new Wheelie Bin Laws.
I, like many, mistakenly believed that we paid the Council, through our taxes, to deal with our rubbish. That WE were the paying customers and THEY were our contractor who simply did a job for us !
I am not sure how we allowed these Public Servants to become our Public Masters swamping us in a deluge of laws, punishable by criminal conviction, if we don’t bend over backwards and jump through hoops to make the job of collecting our rubbish as easy as possible for them?
It seems to me that we have all fallen asleep and woken up to find ourselves in the Soviet Republic of Wychavon!
I have raised the following questions with our local Councillor:
Anna “Wheelie Bin” Mackison
who, for those who don’t know, is also the “Executive Member for the Environment”, the Council Committee responsible for imposing all this nonsense:
1) Is there a reason why only two name stickers have been provided to each household for labelling the bins ? This seems a little odd as there are three bins. The Green Bin, The Grey Bin and the Food Caddy. Are we supposed to leave one of these three unlabelled and if so which one? Will we get a knock on the door from the Bin Gestapo if we label the wrong ones?
2) The leaflet says that residents should place their bins outside by 7:00am on the day of collection. Does this mean that residents who don’t want to get up at the crack of dawn and who instead choose to leave their bins out the night before collection day will receive a visit from the Bin Gestapo ? Can you please clarify if it acceptable to leave bins out the night before collection? It would seem harsh to deprive our pensioners of their well earned rest and drag them out of bed at 6:00am solely to meet the requirements of the draconian new bin laws?
3) It appears that there is some confusion in the Council’s think tank about whether food waste recycling is cost effective or not. One week we, the taxpayers, are to be charged for a special diesel belching van that comes and collects the food waste and takes it for recycling. Presumably the wise people at the council have decided that sending this van around to collect food waste is a good way to spend taxpayers money. However, the next week, the food waste is chucked in the back of the non re-cycling van and dumped in land fill. Presumably because the wise people at the council have decided that it is not a good use of taxpayers’ money to collect and re-cycle food waste. Either it is a good use of taxpayers’ money to recycle food waste or it isn’t. I struggle to see how it can be a good use of taxpayers’ money one week, but not the following week ?
4) On Grey Bin weeks the carefully sorted and collected food waste is to be dumped in the same landfill site as the non recyclable grey bin waste. Would it not make sense to spare the burdened council tax payers the hassle of sorting the waste on these weeks? I know that public officials generally think the citizenry exist simply to comply with their edicts but perhaps you could assure me that failure to go through the entirely pointless task of sorting food waste on grey bin weeks will not result in a knock on the door from the Bin Gestapo.
5) Under the heading of “Damaged, lost or stolen bins” we are solemnly advised that we are required to take reasonable care of the Council’s bins or we may be charged for replacements. Perhaps you could clarify the level of reasonable care expected in the prevention of having one’s bin stolen. Are we expected to keep the bin locked in a secure storage unit overnight, or perhaps deploy a private security firm to ensure that vandals do not get too close to the bin? As far as damaging the bins, are we required to stand over the Council’s contractors when they empty the bin, in order to ensure that they do not damage it through carelessness or harsh treatment. I would certainly like to know Just how much of my life the Council requires me to dedicate to the preservation of their bins, before the Bin Gestapo reach the presumably unilateral, behind closed doors, with no right of appeal, verdict that I have failed to meet their “Reasonable Care” standard.
6) Placing the wrong type of rubbish in the bin can result in the Bin Gestapo “stickering” your bin and refusing to take it away. Since such “stickerings” can eventually result in a criminal conviction, the public damage to someone’s reputation of having their bin “stickered” is not inconsequential. Can you reassure me that In the event that the Bin Gestapo “sticker” a citizens bin in error, the Council will be paying compensation for damage to reputation, defamation of character, etc ? It would seem to me that it is quite easy to make an honest error in identifying what is or is not allowed in the sacred Green Bin.
E.g. who determines the level of cleanliness that divides the “clean food cans” allowed in the Green Bin from the “dirty cans” forbidden from the Green Bin. Just how dirty does a paper item need to be before it is forbidden from the Green Bin under the wet or dirty provisions? Is a metal jar lid with a plastic coating allowed in the Green Bin ? Is a paperback book allowed in the Green Bin. Hardbacks are forbidden, but the document is silent on paperbacks, (unless wet or dirty). What about a corrugated cardboard egg box ? Allowed under the egg box provisions, but excluded under the corrugated cardboard provision. How about an unwanted mirror, alas the guidance is silent. “Thin card” is allowed in the Green Bin but no guidance is given on when thickness crosses the thin-thick divide and leads the citizen open to a public “stickering”. One man’s thick, is another man’s, “actually quite thin”. I am keen to recycle, but if I am struggling to make correct judgements about what is recyclable, what hope is there for the 83 year old pensioner whose mind may no longer be at its peak of sharpness.
Is there a process of appealing a public “stickering”, where experts can be called and the citizen may seek to clear his name. Surely the Waste Removal Engineer (Bin Man) cannot be judge jury and executioner, a man whose judgement is infallible and whose word alone is law ?
I will of course publish the replies from our councillor as and when I get them.
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Richard Walton
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Anna Mackison
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James
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Anna Mackison
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Editor
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Anna Mackison
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Editor
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Anna Mackison
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James