Welcome to diseases & to vermin on the streets. No, not the two-legged kind... What the h*11 is the govt thinking?
Weekly rubbish collections have now been withdrawn from 18 million people, so it was claimed recently.
This number, based on latest Government figures, prompted fresh criticism of the impact of fortnightly bin collections on public health.
At least 155 councils, out of 350, have so far adopted "alternate week" collections, environment minister Joan Ruddock has disclosed to Mps.
That is up from 140 last April, causing shadow local government minister Eric Pickles to warn of the "slow death" of weekly collections.
He also accused Gordon Brown of "bullying" councils into the new rubbish collection cycle after ministerial answers showed that savings from the schemes could be counted towards annual efficiency targets.
All it is is targets, efficiency targets, and targets again with this government. Nothing else seems to count.
There has been a storm of protest over the rubbish collection changes, which see recyclables collected one week and other waste the next.
Ministers insist that rubbish is still collected weekly, but MPs have warned the scheme is unsuitable for many areas and there is no proof it increases recycling.
The cross-party Communities and Local Government Select Committee also raised concern about the public health implications of leaving rubbish in the street for up to 14 days.
Mr Pickles said today: "It is increasingly difficult for families to dispose of their rubbish responsibly - in turn leading to more fly-tipping, harming the local environment.
"We are witnessing the slow death of weekly collections.”
While people may indeed genuinely want to improve recycling and go green, Labour's approach of forcing rubbish cuts is not the answer, as it threatens to harm the local environment and is bad for public health. Nor is penalizing those that do not recycle, often because they cannot take their recyclables to the recycling centers for a variety of reason, not the least being the lack of transport, an answer. Instead the government should find a way of encouraging people to recycle by giving them financial incentives to do so, as it is the case in many areas of the United States where the recycling centers pay for material brought to them.
Whitehall bureaucrats and ministers do not seem to have a clue as to what happens with rubbish, especially organic refuse, in summer, and let us have some real hot and sticky months, and all I can say is “welcome diseases” which won't be all that welcome, and vermin. Already it is reckoned that there are rats all over the place, which indeed is true, and it will be worse when it comes to a hot summer and rotting refuse. And not only will it be rats but it will be flyes, maggots and the gods only know what.
Already it is being reported that fly tipping, the illegal dumping of rubbish, has doubled and trebled in many areas, and here especially those that have gone over to fortnightly rubbish collections and/or those that charge by the bin bag, and many of those that work in Parks and Open Spaces, as well as Countryside Rangers and farmers, report a significant increase of fly-tipping over previous years. This proves that people will not put up with the idiocy of the governments, local and central, and will dump refuse illegally in the countryside where then the councils – or in case of it being dumped on farm land the farmer – will have to foot the bill for clearing up the mess.
Let us get serious and – one – get back to at least weekly rubbish collections, including recyclables and – two – give incentives to people to recycle, financial incentives. Then we must return to the returnable glass bottles with deposit. It is amazing that other countries can have daily refuse collections while in the UK a weekly one seems to be too much for the public purse. However, the answer would be the usual one, I should assume, namely that while this may all work in other countries it could not work in Britain, as Britain is different.
© Michael Smith (Veshengro), February 2008
Weekly rubbish collections 'withdrawn from 18 million people'
