They are worth their weight in gold.
Pity we only value them when they aren't there.
You don't realise how vital binmen are until there's rubbish everywhere piling up.
At Colling towers the conglomeration of waste after Christmas took on nightmare proportions.
Super-strong black sacks sagged under the load which overflowed from the sheer quantity of cardboard, cartons, wrapping paper, peelings and packets, It was driving me crackers. Instead of a pedal bin in the kitchen, I took to keeping a black sack by my side. It became my best friend as the festivities threw up more and more cans, bottles and plastic.
And as I filled more and more with endless rubbish, the very idea that we would have to wait an extra four days for the binmen was overwhelming, just like the rubbish.
Number three son was despatched to the tip. But, thousands city-wide have literally been left in the lurch for 16 days, all because the binmen were redeployed to clear the snow rather than clear the rubbish because it was too dangerously icy for collections. And whose fault's that? The bin vans can't get round because unless you are on a main route the gritters aren't coming round. I haven't seen a single gritter down our street since before Christmas. Where were they over the holidays, given the forecast?And where were the binmen clearing the snow? Certainly not on the estates to get the bin van round.
Householders have every reason to be up in arms with Sunderland Council for leaving them with a mountainous muck heap at their front door for any scaveneger – two or four-legged variety – to rake through. What a stinking disgrace and what a shambles in council provision at what is the biggest rubbish collection of the year. Contingency plans were non-existent. And it's only now they tell us the number to call if our bins are full to owerflowing – the neighbourhood helpline 0300 1000.
I bet they're inundated. And it certainly didn't appear on the council's Christmas refuse collection leaflet, And as I came through Thorney Close, where towering piles of Christmas packaging were piled next to black sacks and bins, I wondered if the binmen would take it all away.
And if yours is one of the streets where the collections are long overdue, presumably the one black sack rule will be waived because of this fiasco. Just wonder how long it will take the binmen to catch up before normal service is resumed.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ... not unless you want to be snowed under with rubbish, rubbish, everywhere.
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Weather for Sunderland
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -3 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
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Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
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