Big Bins Are In,

small bins are out,

in the ongoing bin wars some local councils have taken to putting communal bins like the one above outside their residents home, Manchester pensioner Olwyn Steinloft grapples with a heavy lid after a walk to her bin, up to 40 homes have to share one bin, of course involving a 100 yard or more walk to get to it if your house is furthest away, great in the summer time but not so nice in the pouring rain, you will of course have to keep most of your other bins, this one is for non-recyclable waste going to landfill – the council still collects recycling from individual houses, but, there are a few problems with them, apart from being decidedly unsightly, in Brighton pensioner Jakki Joyce, 65, said: ‘it was a money- saving scheme to sack binmen and the vast majority of us hate it, I am a 5ft 2in grandmother and it is almost impossible for me to get my rubbish into these awful things because the lids are so heavy',

not to mention the safety of those people – usually either drunk or homeless – who fall asleep in one of the dumpsters and end up being crushed or suffocated in a rubbish truck, latest figures, for 2009/10, show that the Health and Safety Executive recorded three such deaths – including one in Brighton and one in Manchester – having not had any in the previous four years,

of course you are not given a choice as to where the magnets for fly tippers and rats will appear, record producer Seamus Haji and his wife Janet live in Montpelier and were angry to have a communal bin placed directly outside their £500,000 home, Mrs Haji said: ‘We had a bin a few feet from our front door and it was a nightmare, our quality of life plummeted, it was a real concern that having a bin there would have a very negative effect on the price of our property,' leading to a game of ‘bin chess’ – where families find the communal bin has been moved to outside their house because of another resident’s persistent complaints, I must admit I always thought that anything blocking a street or pavement had to have some sort of formal permission, for instance when a householder wants to put a skip outside his or her house, there has to be safety night lights in place for motorists and pedestrians, I wonder if the council has issued such permits and supplied lights for these bins?