Another day off for the binmen: Councils do nothing as the rubbish crisis grows

dailymail ^ | 4th January 2011 | By Steve Doughty and Claire Ellicott

[dennisw]

Binmen and council bosses were sitting at home enjoying the bank holiday yesterday – while families struggled with weeks of uncollected rubbish and residents complained of refuse mountains in the streets.

Across the country town hall chiefs ignored the overwhelming evidence of a deepening waste crisis and a growing threat to public health in favour of allowing their workers to complete an unbroken public holiday.

The councils’ umbrella body, the Local Government Association, confirmed the failure of local authorities to respond to desperate pleas from their voters for action to remove mounds of rubbish from roads and public spaces. Pile it high:A mountain of rubbish on George Road, Birmingham, which has not been collected for about three weeks

Some families have been forced to wait a month to have their rubbish collected and millions will have gaps between collections of three weeks. Delays have been variously blamed by local authorities on pre-Christmas bad weather, health and safety rules, and strikes.

Some councils may have decided against extra collections because of a ‘crisis, what crisis?’ view that things were not as bad as people felt.

The seasonal refuse shutdown – first reported to have affected widespread areas last year – is also thought by critics to follow the introduction of fortnightly rubbish collections.

There were few signs of local authorities calling in binmen from their bank holidays to clear the rubbish mountain. There was bank holiday working in two hard-hit areas – Birmingham and North Somerset – but in most other places the dustmen stayed firmly in front of their televisions.

The failure of most town halls to take complaints about the rubbish shutdown seriously provoked fury among ministers who had already become restive over the apparent complacency of local government leaders.

[dennisw]

Wall-to-wall trash: Bulging refuse sacks on Pendean Road, Yardley Wood in Birmingham

 

Pile it high: A mountain of rubbish on George Road, Birmingham, which has not been collected for about three weeks

[HiTech RedNeck]

Private waste hauling firms would take care of this in a tearing hurry.

[exDemMom]

The seasonal refuse shutdown – first reported to have affected widespread areas last year – is also thought by critics to follow the introduction of fortnightly rubbish collections.

Fortnightly? Doesn't that mean "every two weeks"?

Eeeeew

[DontTreadOnMe2009]

Government and Union Inefficiency at its finest !!!

[Paladin2]

It’s the will of Allah.

[Libloather]

A rubbish New Year for millions as cuts mean more waste mountains

[Mitch86]

And yet here I am, 3 miles over the Birmingham - Worcestershire border and there’s not a rubbish bag in sight.