As a person of increasing disability, I have an arrangement with South Holland District Council for an “assisted collection”.
This means I currently put my black refuse sacks in my front porch and they are collected from there.
I am unable to put the sacks on the pavement because I simply cannot drag them down my front garden path any longer. This has been so for a few years and works very well.
As we’re seemingly getting several wheelie bins of many colours, plus a food waste one, I wonder how I’m supposed to get out of my bungalow to put rubbish in them?
The only logical place these bins can all go is under my front room window. So how do I get to go down two steps with rubbish in one hand and a walking stick in the other, put said rubbish in a bin, walk back and then climb up two steps back into my bungalow?
I wonder if my current “assisted collection” status will end. If yes, how am I supposed to wheel all these bins down my path and into the street, have them emptied, and then go back out to bring them back in after emptying? The answer is simple. I can’t do it.
With ever worsening rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, type 2 diabetes, lymphodima, long-term COVID breathing problems plus balance and dizzy spells, I will be unable to comply with the new regulations.
Finally, my street pavement is very narrow. If able-bodied people put their wheelie bins out, people with mobility scooters, mobility wheelchairs, shopping baskets on wheels and parents with prams are going to have to drive and/or walk in the road.
Given St Thomas’s Road is our local F1 track for idiots in cars and on motorcycles, it’ll be interesting to see the casualty numbers after a few months.
This one-size approach to rubbish collecting isn’t going to work.
I don’t believe this scheme has taken into account people with mobility problems nor the width of many pavements.
I would be happy for the CEO of SHDC to come and visit me.
Alan Long
Spalding
