Letter: Why the New Forest really needs wheelie bins

SIR – In response to the complaint against wheelie bins (Letters, 25th March), I can visualise so much improvement that not having wheeled bins would be against individual rights for a healthier environment.

I have negotiated with New Forest District Council for nearly two years to have sacks left in our dustbins until the lorry comes round and finally, mostly, it has worked.

During the time that the puller takes out the sacks and the bin lorry arrives, the seagulls, magpies and crows get to work. This morning it was 90 minutes. Last summer it was three hours. Seagulls have now gone to other takeaways.

List of reasons for wheeled bins:

1. Plastic waste blowing down street and impacting our oceans.
2. Human waste, dog waste, nappies, etc.
3. Infection risk to the waste team.
4. Manual handling issues for the team with so many sacks.
5. We were told by NFDC that we should take ownership of our waste outside our own property, not so with sack collections.
6. Pavements and roads are semi-blocked by split sacks.
7. Drain cleaning doesn’t happen when sacks cover a road drain.
8. Pavement users with wheeled devices and sticks shouldn’t have to negotiate detritus.

Yes, there will be a question mark over improvement in recycling rates. This will be down to NFDC and Hampshire County Council tackling the expensive problem of the large-scale sorting sites for plastic and the need for education of the public on what can be recycled.

We have collective ownership of our world. Our habits in what we purchase is paramount in changing the attitudes of manufacturers and supermarkets.

Wheeled bins will be left out in streets until workers return home. My dustbin does now and I’m retired, but better than our rubbish be laid bare.

Nimbyism isn’t part of 2022. Look forwards not backwards.

Wheeled bins are 100% preferable to our waste being eaten by birds and animals and touched by humans clearing up the mess.

Shirley Macey,
New Milton