Credit where it’s due – good rubbish!

I’ve often remarked that people only take notice of services when they fail – e.g. nobody rings up the electricity company to say thanks for keeping the lights on without interruption for yet another day.

This is currently being reflected in the ‘mountains of rubbish’ stories on TV and in the press. In some places there’s now a backlog of refuse due to a combination of snow hampering collections in mid December, some environmental resources being diverted to gritting around the same time, and then gaps in the normal collection routines due to Christmas and New Year holidays. As a result, packs of rabid giant rats are now endemic across most of the UK, sweeping through neighbourhoods and devouring both urban foxes and the babies upon which would these would normally prey.

So I thought it would be nice if I broke the pattern and said thank-you to Dartford Borough Council. Speaking for my own road – collections were only slightly disrupted despite the heaviest snow I have seen in 20 years of living here, this included recycling and garden waste recycling, and the maintenance of normal service levels over the holidays means that collections this week are only one or two days later than normal. All of this is on top of the retention of weekly collections of non-recyclable rubbish – a result of a local referendum held by the Council. So well done Dartford. Thanks! Much appreciated. Not taken for granted… etc. etc.

Still – might not stop those packs of rabid giant rats migrating in from less well-maintained areas. Though low levels of rubbish do seem to keep the news reporters at bay.