Medway's Rubbish

Like many of my Wednesday's off I have spent the morning clearing out my front garden. Wednesday is rubbish day in my part of the Medway towns so it makes sense to get rid of all the rubbish in one foul swoop.

The thing I don't understand is why there is so much rubbish in my front garden - well that was until I started paying more attention.

You see I live opposite two take aways, a post office and a Tesco metro and as I watch people come out of the various outlets I see people drop receipts, jettison empty fag boxes, pull off cellophane wrappers and let them free to the wind.

I also on a main route to various different schools including Woodlands, Robert Napier, Barnsole and for some - Brompton academy and at certain times of the day I see streams of school kids going in either direction jettisoning their unwanted refuse which some how gravitates to my garden. Probably because I don't have a wall and an open driveway.

Then of course there is rubbish day itself. Not everyone ties up their bags well and on windy days
like today well...

This was a snap of my road today.

So who is to blame?

Well, during the local elections in 2011 the Independents claimed that the Libdem councillors of Gillingham South hadn't provided enough bins - which was proved to be hokum. Further to that the presence of the Council bins around Gillingham doesn't mean that people will use them. There is a bin right outside the Sturdee Avenue Tesco - is it used?

Well, is it Medway Council? Every morning I see the street cleaning team doing a Herculean job of cleaning rubbish from the streets in my area. The problem is, no sooner have they done it than people reappear and drop more litter. I will gripe about the bin bag situation though. A few years ago Medway Council stopped providing residents with rubbish bags - fair enough, I can understand the cut and applaud it as a good money saving scheme. The only problem was that the bags the Council provided were thick and large so if tied up properly they stayed so and were difficult to tear. Now that we have to get our own many people get economy or cheap bin bags because why spend a lot on something that is essentially rubbish?

It is some what of a false economy as they soon rip or need double bagging. If they rip outside though isn't that some other persons problem?

Yeah - mine!

I have to clean up refuse from my front garden and see it blowing up the street.

We all live in the Medway towns, it is not the job of the Council to run around clearing up your rubbish all day every day. Make sure your rubbish isn't just going to tear open, put your litter in the bin, take a moment just to tidy up after yourself and maybe things wouldn't look so untidy.