What rubbish!

I'm riding another hobby-horse again - sorry! The story of a council who refused to empty a 96-year-old man's bin because he'd unwittingly put some recyclable stuff in there is pathetic in the extreme, but it's symptomatic of the general attitude of councils over refuse collection. What they don't seem to realise is that for most people, the bin men are the public face of the council and what we pay our council tax for. So if you want to keep the council taxpayers onside, the last thing you want to do is antagonise them with petty regulations over refuse collection. Lids not fully down (what does it matter?), bins out too early (what if you have to leave for work before the permitted time?) or stuff in the wrong bin (why not take it out and put it in the right bin?). The majority of people agree with recycling, and want to do their bit, but instead of helping and encouraging them, many councils seem to put as many obstacles in their way as possible. Actually, compared to some of these stories in the papers, my council doesn't seem too bad, but come on folks, we're all supposed to be on the same team aren't we? What happened to the idea that refuse collection was a service for which we pay? Give people power and it tends to go to their heads.