Maggots in your dustbin

November 4th, 2006 Written by barry

I couldnt help but notice that during the warmer months of this year, people were complaining repeatedly about the fact our dustbins only get emptied once a fortnight. Why were they complaining? Because maggots were appearing in bins all across the borough!

Of course, the local council would have us believe that recycling is a great idea and that it will save the planet and we all live happily ever after. To a point, I agree. Recycling is a fantastic idea and we should all do our bit to contribute, but not at the expense of our health. If maggots are lying around in our dustbins, then its hardly hygienic is it? So why do they insist on emptying the dustbins once a fortnight when this clearly isnt sufficient during warmer months?

If the frequency that our bins are emptied is halved, then shouldnt our council tax bill drop a little? Ohhh no! We couldnt have that could we! Im not completely dumb, I understand that we now have a whole range of beautifully coloured bins littering our gardens that also need emptying. But I for one, never asked for this.

Where I live, our gardens arent the biggest and to have 4 bins cluttering the garden is superb for recycling, but not for the look of the garden. Dont get me wrong, I actively recycle as much as I can and encourage others to do the same. But there has to be a better way than dumping 4 bins in each garden and slashing the emptying of the “main” waste bin to once every 2 weeks! Do they think that people’s waste is evenly balanced into “tins, paper, plastic and food waste”. I think not! There are times when my main waste bin is full by the end of the first week, yet the other bins only have a small amount of the relevant waste in each. Im not going to apologise for the fact that my waste pattern may not be the same as the rest of the town…. I pay the same to get my bins emptied too.

My view is that if they can spend good money (thats OUR money) fitting all bins with bugs that supposedly dont actually have much of a purpose (pointless?), then cant they spend a little more money emptying the actual bins. At least that serves a purpose. In other areas of the country, you have 1 bin, a waste “box” for food and a bottle box… thats it. And it gets emptied once a week. We in Crewe and Nantwich may want to appear to be politically correct and “cutting edge” on the waste issues… but I cant help but think we are doing it for the wrong reasons. It doesnt appear very well thought out. It seems we always like to APPEAR to be doing everything we can, but in the longterm achieves very little.

Whatever the reason and whatever the frequency of waste disposal, I dont think its right that people are left with maggots crawling around in their dustbins. Its not hygienic or fair. If council tenants would have had maggots crawling around near the home, the council would turn all self-righteous and threaten eviction. Practice what you preach.

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