Posted on 05/28/2006 9:56:00 PM PDT by Lorianne
Binmen say recycling schemes have led to a surge in attacks by householders who find their rubbish uncollected when they fail to follow strict rules.
Unions for refuse collectors are threatening to strike over what they say is a rising tide of violence that has seen one in five of Britain's 40,000 binmen injured in physical attacks at work and more than two thirds verbally abused.
Binmen are ending up in hospital They blame the violence on growing frustration with complex regulations requiring people to minimise waste and separate recyclable materials. If households fail to sort their waste or put out too much, binmen are ordered not to take it.
Rose Conroy, a spokesman for the GMB union, which represents half of Britain's binmen, said: "More -binmen are getting beaten up and the incidents are getting more violent. People are ending up in hospital now.
"The binman's job used to be so straightforward. Rubbish wasn't divided and you could leave what you liked. People get angry when rubbish is left because they've paid their tax. But binmen are on the front line and have to literally take it on the chin."
Councils are required by the Government to increase the amount of recycled rubbish and reduce the waste that ends up in landfill.
All local authorities have set up schemes requiring households to sort general waste from so-called "dry recyclables" - paper, glass, plastic and cans - which are collected separately.
In Norfolk, binmen are planning to strike after a spate of attacks. Bruce Rose, 49, from King's Lynn, has been off work since he was dragged from his lorry and repeatedly punched last month.
He said: "There's no excuse for violent behaviour but councils are making up rules and don't know what is going on on the streets."
Lee Marshall, the chairman of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, which advises councils on waste issues, said: "It's about behavioural change and that's always going to be difficult."
Britons produce 28.5 million tons of household waste every year, with 23 per cent recycled.
Coming to an American neighborhood near you...
Pickups like this are already common in a lot of American cities but you never hear about violence associated with them.
You mean - the serfs are starting to rebel?!!
Here in CA, the company that picks up garbage puts all the garbage onto a conveyor belt, and has people pick out various kinds of material. Then the picked through stuff is chopped up, and they go through it with a magnet.
Pretty good wages, but the working conditions stink.
I was a curbside recycling collector for a year before moving UP into a garbage route. Yes, hauling garbage is a much better job than being a recycler. People can go absolutely insane about their recycling bins filled with garbage, rotting food, maggots etc, that they haven't sorted correctly expecting the collector to do it for them being left full. When I switched from recycling to garbage I had repetetive stress pain in both shoulders and wrists. After 2 months slinging cans (by hand, nothing was automated in Portland, OR) I was pain free and loving life. That was the best job I ever had and I still miss it.
It's already begun in the San Joaquin Valley, California. Increasingly complex rules, not very clearly written and the results can be no pickup.
Unfortunately the guys on the trucks get the abuse, although the truly clueless ones, the "recycling advisory committees", or whatever they call themselves should be the weasels getting beat up. I can totally understand reaching one's limit.
Another insane "feel good" idea brought to you by the Bugs and Bunny crowd.
"Hear" is the operative word here. If it's like other "unimportant" crime that I know happens because I have seen it with my own eyes (or at least the aftermath), it simply is not reported...
Garbage pickup used to be about sanitation and public health. Now it's about making sure that all the sheep properly sort their garbage to satisfy environmentalist silliness.
I recycle all my trash...right into the trash can.
Recycling will make sense, when they are wiling to pay me for my garbage!!!
wiling = willing
Shouldn't that be "binpersons"?
You are one hundred percent correct. The great majority of recycling uses up more energy than is saved. Recycling paper is especially sheer idiocy. I had a liberal college prof who did a study on the benefits of recycling. His honest research concluded that it was a "waste" (yuk, yuk) of time.
Like - $17/hr and all you can eat?
I rolled my old barbecue down to the curb this morning and it was dutifully picked up.. They take anything and everything here...(Houston)...
I have been yelling that from the rooftops for years. It is a complete waste.
You are correct! It all gets recycled.. It costs society more to do a 'fast' recycle by sorting and processing. And I've yet to see a study that shows that it's feasible except in some niche situations, but rarely on a large scale..
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