Richard Poulter, Tokai
I refer to the letter from Jennifer Jones (“Earlier refuse removal will deter bin pickers,” Bulletin June 17).
I sympathise with the plight of the bin pickers. How woeful must it be to try and eke out a living scraping through rich (comparatively) persons’ rubbish bins.
Whenever I discard anything remotely of value I place it on top of the bin.
My only proviso is that the pickers clean up any mess they make which they seem to do in my part of Tokai.
Ms Jones suggests earlier collection to solve this issue, but it is not going to work as the pickers will just get there earlier, and presumably the City’s collections vehicles cannot be everywhere at the same early time. Also the pickers are not exactly committing a crime by moving waste from one bin to another.
It is a pity that the pickers can’t be used for recycling as there is virtually no recycling done by the residents in my area. All one hears is the sound of glass as the nearby bins are emptied into the truck. I and maybe 5% of the local residents in my area subscribe to an independent recycle service, but the amount of non-recycled waste in the neighbourhood far outweighs this. I reckon my non-recyclable waste is about half of the total amount of waste my family generates.
I am actually surprised that the City can still offer such an efficient and reliable service and there is, in fact, still space to dump the mountain of rubbish collected daily. I am not sure how long this can continue as is, but an efficient and professionally organised recycling service or scheme would certainly help.