A Word In Your Ear - February 15, 2018

Festive times like Christmas or Easter store up problems, or even chilly winter weekends, when we enjoy heartier home meals with more drinks than when out and about in summer.

Surely, an extra, ‘properly displayed’ bin bag beside our grey bins can be carried away by our hard-working dustbin men? But no, that’s against council policy. Bags are ignored, except by cats, dogs and seagulls, spreading rubbish and attracting vermin.

The powers-that-be are determined we learn the lesson of recycling, with one grey wheely bin per home – however crowded. For green bins and garden waste, we now face hefty charges, so that gets hidden amid the ‘grey’ trash.

Then there is cardboard. Home deliveries come in ever bigger boxes, which will not fit in those canvas bags provided to Blackpool households for newspaper and cardboard. We and neighbours fold up such items and leave them by newspaper bags, but they’re still there days later, blowing about our neighbourhood.

The same fate awaits black bin bags filled with giant, plastic bottles that would overflow if added to blue bins loaded with glass, metal and plastic. Those bags, too, are ignored by our fortnightly collection. Not surprisingly, they end up chucked down alleys, filling roadside ‘litter bins’ or fly-tipped.

Builders, too, fill any handy bins with waste they would be charged for dumping at official sites; leaving a heavyweight problem for householders. We want to encourage people to use council tips, not drive them out to rural lanes or old industrial sites to fly-tip.

Let’s have more common sense and fewer rules! Help responsible householders – and put the lid safely on this recurring rubbish rant.

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