Just a Load of Rubbish

Countryside Column for 31 October

Refuse the refuse cuts please

It’s a scene out of one of those chaotic Breugel paintings. Village folk scurry hither and thither; women throw things from doors and windows; men pull rudimentary carts up and down lanes. Yes, the civic amenity vehicle has arrived for its fortnightly visit.

            Among the more interesting items at our parish council meetings are reports from our borough councillors on what’s going on at the town hall in Tunbridge Wells. This month the spotlight was on this amenity vehicle-- otherwise known as the refuse lorry.

            Now for people who live close to a recycling centre this may be of little import. But for me it’s a 40 mile round trip to dispose of things declined by the kerbside collection.

            We used to have a dump much closer. But some years ago the council closed it and sold off the land. As compensation for the loss of the facility, they promised us a peripatetic refuse truck. Every other Saturday it visits my village, alternating with others nearby.

            And very popular it is too. Often cars and trailers queue down the road waiting to disgorge garbage, garden waste and the surplus contents of long neglected sheds. The driver is extremely accommodating and helps to tip almost anything into the cavernous interior of his compactor. There’s even a totter’s truck alongside which takes your scrap metal.

            The problem is that the town hall bean counters have proposed saving £32,000 a year by withdrawing the service. This has led to local consternation and much lobbying of rural council members.

            One pointed that out that fly tipping would certainly increase - which already costs the council a tidy sum to clear. And, at the same meeting when they proposed saving our £32,000, the group voted to spend £1.5 million on new seats for the Assembly Hall, even though it’s planned to replace the whole building shortly.

            However, the issue for anyone of an ecological bent, is that the entire contents of the fortnightly refuse lorry goes straight to landfill. So old paint tins, noxious leeching chemicals, methane-making foliage, and a sea of plastics will remain buried just below the surface of Kentish fields for generations.

            The answer: a proper collection service that separates refuse at source and then recycles it. Trouble is, it would require more lorries, or new ones with separate compartments.  And that means spending more money. Somehow I can’t quite see that happening!