Tests due to prove problems on bags
Wednesday 22nd September 2010, 9:00PM BST.
Pensioners and disabled people face a test to prove they cannot carry their rubbish bags to the kerb under new bin collection rules in Dudley, it emerged today.
Binmen have been instructed to only collect sacks from the pavement following changes to the service introduced this week.
It means bags left near the doorstep by elderly and disabled people have not been collected.
The council says anyone with a disability can contact them to be “assessed on their needs” at home.
But the move has come under fire from Quarry Bank pensioner Carol Clarke, who has osteoarthritis in her hands and branded the rule “an insult”.
The 62-year-old said she had always left her bags on her front steps. “I rang the council and was told about the new rule.
“I explained about my arthritis and they said my disability would be assessed to see if I qualified to have my bags taken from the steps rather than pavement.
“I am quite incensed that I have to prove that I unable to carry my bags further than my steps. It is quite an insult.”
She said if she split the rubbish into lighter loads she was at risk of going over the three-bag limit.
Shadow cabinet member for the environment, Zafar Islam, said: “It is hard to predict how many people will need assistance. I imagine there will be a lot of elderly and disabled people needing assistance.”
Dudley Council spokesman Chris Howes said there was no extra cost for the assessments, adding: “Anyone who is unable to get their bags to the kerbside because of a disability and requires assistance can contact Dudley Council Plus to be assessed on their needs.
“In the interim they will be added to a temporary assisted collection list until they are assessed at home, which will reduce any inconvenience.”
The new rules, which the council says aim to encourage recycling, have also restricted the number of bags collected per household to three sparking complaints from residents across the borough.
People living on the Priory and Kates Hill estates reported dozens of bags were left behind following collections on Monday.
They fear rubbish strewn across the street will attract rats and other vermin.
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I think every household in the borough should have had a letter telling people when the controversial scheme was starting already down our st there are empty bags…
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What planet is this council on?
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Woodsetton looks like a tip with bags left strewn on pavements.
This is mainly because the bin men charge through in order to get off home early.
There is no pride in the way they do this job at all – it’s all about the council sving a bit of cash and the bin men taking advantage of very poor supervision and management.
We should be able to opt out of this so called service.
I have nothing but contempt for them.
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I would like to say that Mike is an idiot. The binman are ike anybody else in employment following instructions form managers. As far as having no pride in their work well that is bull. The binman work on task and finish time which means if they don’t get the job done within the time they do not get overtime or time in lieu. The reason some teams finish early is that they get on and do the job and not sit and tea and coffee at every opportunity. It would be intersting to know what job Mike does? I wonder if the public know that most of th bin men are having approximately £7,000.00 a year taken off them to give to the lollipop people and the school dinner people. I am all for equality but only if these people can do the same job as the dustbin men. They can’t stop of work when the snow is down and ther is no heating on or stand under and umberella or wear fould weather gear in the thunderstorms and rain. I wonder how many wives would like the smells that the binmen take home on their clothes from your rubbish and the risk they face everyday from some idiots who put broken glass/mirrors, broekn knives, used needles in he rubbish bags. I know of one binman who had to have an operation on his leg because some idiot and put a carving knife in the black bag. I laso know of a binman who had bleech go in his eyes because some idiot decided to put neat bleech on top of the bags to keep the animals away. I suggest Mike that you find your facts out before you go slagging off men who do a damn good job for Dudley and again I would like to see you do the job.
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Well said wife of a Binman.
Half of the people that have slagged off the binmen to me over the past few days do not even work themselves and forget it is people like binmen who pay taxes to keep our ever growing state of benefit fraudsters and scroungers. they work hard and in all weathers and if they think that is an easy job, maybe they should get off their backsides and try working for a living like the rest of us. If they really want to gripe about the decision, maybe they should complain in writing to the people that make the decisions like the chief executive, councillors and heads of wastecare as the bin men are only working to instruction from the powers that be.
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What a shambles!
Apparently there has been plenty of publicity, I have neither seen anytihng nor had any correspondence regarding these changes.
I eventually found a leaflet on the council’s website outlining the changes, unfortunately there was one vital piece of information missing THE START DATE.
This Council are a total waste of time.
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I knew absolutely nothing about this scheme or the new rules until a roll of bin bags was unceremoniously dumped on my front path.
In principle, I can understand what the council is trying to do, but it seems to be very badly implemented.
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Send an email to the relevant department and complain. The more people that complain the better, this will highlight that their communication is very poor.
EVERYONE please complain directly to the council.
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In the absence of any kind-hearted volunteers to take the bags to the pavement for the pensioners, it could be an opportunity for some enterprising schoolkids to earn a few bob taking the bags to the pavment (oh, I forgot, there’s probably some kind of Health & Safety or household insurance clause that prohibits that).
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i don’t live in dudley but what planet is this council from.If wolverhampton council get any ideas then i’m off!
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What a bunch of self-important, job creating idiots.
1.Exactly how much will it cost the council to employ someone to go out and do the assessments?
2.Who provided a time and study report to say they would make savings if bags were left on the pavement?
3.Would it really hurt the refuse collectors to walk a few extra steps up a path to collect the bags?
Whoever is in charge of this department should be embarrassed. The council should also be embarrassed by the none existent communication and their poor attempt at cost cutting.
They have created a job(s) and not saved money and in the process are making the refuse collectors soft! I wonder how many would hack it in the days of metal bins at the top of drives, not many!!
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everyone stop recycling fill three bags of rubbish that will slow them down and cost more they might think twice about these daft ideas
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First we’er told not to leave bags on the pavement which would cause an obstruction,now
we’er to do the opposite.So if someone trips over the bags and breaks their arm they will have to sue the council because its on the pavement.Absolute genius well done Dudley Council,how long did it take to think that one up!!!
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i have recycled and composted for the past year to reduce my families waste.
The result is more vermin in my garden, im killing a rat nearly every month as it sniffs around my compost bin and recyclables even though they have been cleaned. I never had this problem before.
Waste needs to be removed from family homes to protect families from vermin and illness.
Refuseal to help the elderly and remove waste in a service WE PAY for is prime example of the councils narrow view of the world.
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Possibility of a class-action lawsuit perhaps? That would make them sit up and listen.
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How dare they infer that someone like my Mum who is 90 and can hardly walk can take her bag thirty yards up to the pavement with her crumbling spine.
Already they have thrown the bags in the middle of the drive and she can hardly bend down to pick them up.
Soon they’ll be asking them to run a 100 metres.
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DUDLEY COUNCIL you actually work for your customers NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND.
Stop telling them what to do and try and give them some VALUE for their money.
It’s sad enough having to live in Dudley without you little egotitic dictators telling how to live your life.
Glad I got out of the dump.
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The council aims to encourage recycling? More like encouraging vermin..including ecco-fascists. Vermin of this ilk are doing this kind of thing all over the world. Using the environment is but their pretext to something far more sinister and far more global in it’s impact. It’s not about making people’s lives better it’s about making them worse, through subjugation.
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I agree with why the council have done what they have done with refuse but admit that their communication to the borough has been appauling. I also cannot believe the abuse the staff are recieving at Dudley Council plus over the matter. I was in there today with reference to another matter and was witness to the abuse they are receiving from people calling to complain. I have always found the staff at Dudley council Plus very helpful and friendly and people forget that it is not them that have left the refuse behind. Some people are very rude.
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i put 2 and a very small bin bag out today, my builder moved them to the pavement to put his van on my drive while i went to take the kids to school when i got back because they assumed they were the neighbours they left one behind that was full of dirty nappies. wonderfull. its difficult enough to try and stick to 3 but i do but now they have left me with dirty nappies for a week. ive got a good mind to take it round thier offices and ask them to dispose of it!
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I bet the bin men are loving this,an excuse to be more idle and inconsiderate than before.The way they go round they couldn’t give two hoots about the people that actually pay there wages,i had a sticker put on a bag but they couldn’t even be bothered to tick the box to tell me why.Waste of space,and for the pen pushers who dream of these ways to waste our money they should all be sacked and replaced with people with brains.
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