Wheelie Bin News Roundup 11th November

Wheelie Bin News Roundup 11^th November

Around 3000 homes across Northampton could move to fortnightly wheelie bin collections over the next few weeks. The council said it has identified thousands of properties across the town as having room for wheelie bins and is set to roll out a new collection service by Christmas. Each property is set to get a leaflet about the service changes prior to receiving their new bin.

The homes will get a black bin for general waste, a blue-lidded bin for dry recyclables, and a brown bin for garden waste, and collections will move to every two weeks.

The changes aim to improve street cleanliness and make collections more efficient.

A local councillor said that the council is two years into its waste and recycling contract with Veolia, and that it will continue to listen to resident feedback and introduce service improvements.

A spokesperson for Veolia said that the rollout of new bins will make it easier for people to recycle and it will also help reduce litter in the streets.

At this time of year, it might seem like appeals from the fire service and police fall on deaf ears, but it appears the warnings about not deliberately starting fires have got through to some people. Fire crews in Merseyside dealt with 40% less deliberately started fires than they did last Bonfire Night, according to figures.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service also revealed that crews attended 17% less bonfire-related incidents than in the previous year.

This year, they attended 35 deliberately started fires including wheelie bin and rubbish fires, which is down from 58 incidents last year (though it’s still far too many if you ask us.)

Liverpool had the highest number of deliberately started fires, with fire crews attending 21 incidents. This was down from 26 in the previous year, however.

In the weeks leading up to Bonfire Night, fire crews attended 207 deliberate fires, down from 329 last year. There were however, a few more incidents related to fireworks than there were last year.

999 calls to fire control were also down from 417 last year, to 279. A spokesperson for the fire service said that fire control staff did a great job of handling a large volume of calls and added that the Arson Team were out in the community keeping people safe.

In the weeks before November 5^th, fire crews and the fire prevention team were out in communities clearing away fly-tipping and any hazardous waste that could have been set alight. They also spent time educating people on the safe storage of wheelie bins to prevent arson attacks.

Okay, this is not strictly a wheelie bin story, but we liked it!

A couple in Northamptonshire got a big surprise when they woke up to find that a huge bull had smashed its way through the fence that connects their property with an adjoining field. The animal then decided to headbutt their wheelie bin, trample their lawn, do its business on their patio, and then took an hour-long nap.

The homeowner went downstairs to make a hot drink, looked out of the kitchen window, and saw the huge beast in his garden. The man then told his fiancée who initially thought he was joking then was ‘petrified.’ He said the bull appeared distressed before it settled down and went to sleep. The homeowners called the farmer to come and remove the animal but when they managed to get through to him, he was 40 minutes away. The couple has no choice but to watch the animal, who they nicknamed Arnold (after his large muscular Austrian namesake, Mr. Schwarzenegger) tear up their garden.

The man said he had spent all summer doing up the garden only to see ‘Arnold’ ruin it all. He complained that there are hoof prints on his lawn that look like pot holes-what else can you expect from an animal that weighs a tonne?

The couple said that when the farmer arrived, the animal was calm and appeared to be familiar with him. They commented that they’ve lived in their home for 18 months and they’ve seen ‘the odd sheep’ outside of the house, but needless to say, they’ve never had a surprise like Arnold’s visit before. They’ll be dining out on that story for years.