Box of paper too heavy for Brighton binmen

10:00am Tuesday 12th February 2013 in News

Lesley King and Edward Cope with their recycling box Lesley King and Edward Cope with their recycling box

A Whitehawk resident has expressed her frustration after binmen refused to empty one of her recycling boxes claiming it was “too heavy to lift”.

But Lesley King, 44, who lives in Horsham Close, said her 73-year-old husband was able to lift the container.

Brighton and Hove City Council had not emptied the paper recycling box once in the last two weeks, despite Cityclean staff making two visits.

Mrs King said: “Last week, we put out two black boxes of paper and only got one emptied. On Tuesday we put out four black boxes and they emptied three.

“I went outside and challenged them, but they said it was too heavy to lift and drove off.

“If I can lift it, so can they. My husband, who is 73, can also lift it.”

A council spokesman said the bin had now been emptied.

He said: “Workers have to make decisions on the spot about what they feel safe to lift and we have to respect that. They shift very large numbers of boxes in a day and make decisions on that basis.

“The bottom line is that the council accepts responsibility to collect everyone’s recycling and that is what will happen in this case.”

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Comments(26)

Crystal Ball says...
10:30am Tue 12 Feb 13

The recycling trucks should have more operators on them so each could pick up one piece of paper at a time to save their poor little backs and 'elf-and-safety worries.

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straightasadye says...
11:03am Tue 12 Feb 13

Crystal Ball wrote:
The recycling trucks should have more operators on them so each could pick up one piece of paper at a time to save their poor little backs and 'elf-and-safety worries.
RUBBISH!!!

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wexler53 says...
11:28am Tue 12 Feb 13

Anyone who has worked on the bins - rubbish or recycling - will know that these bins can be seriously heavy. It only takes a few catalogues and it would be beyond what is reasononable.

I note there are two of them in the photo, and neither looks too relaxed.

The refuse and recycling guys do an excellent job overall. We should value their efforts on our behalf more. I can't think that too many of the readers would want to do the job.

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NickBtn says...
11:39am Tue 12 Feb 13

These can be heavy if full especially when the contents are wet (why did they stop supplying lid?). However these can also be lifted by two people - there are more than two people collecting so it just means that someone needs to give their colleague a hand. Hardly rocket science requiring complaints and the press...

However it is worrying how little we recycle. It's not as easy as it could be, many items are not yet taken where other councils do, and they will not collect if not 100% correct. That means if people drop rubbish into your recycling (easy when left outside on day of collection) it gets left. Sometimes with tape on giving a range of reasons why it wasn't collected for you to try and figure out. I've seen people then give up and tip into regular bin....

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Rearrangethedeckchairs says...
11:48am Tue 12 Feb 13

What is heavier a pound of feathers or a pound of apples? This is an incredible news scoop that will no doubt go viral and have 2 million hits on You Tube similar to the recent one- council staff watch paint dry...;

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Microwave Poo Poo Terrorist says...
11:49am Tue 12 Feb 13

1: 73 - 44 divided by Stepdad x Whitehawk = Kyle etc?

2: The point of the issue is poorly illustrated by 2 people struggling to hold the bin - it actually looks pretty heavy

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thevoiceoftruth says...
12:04pm Tue 12 Feb 13

The box does look heavy but surely the council workers could have shoved half of it in another box and made two trips.

The recycling guys once refused to take my recycling claiming it wasn't sorted properly, when it was. I did complain formally and they were really apologetic and came back to get it. Did the couple take it up with Cityclean or just go to the papers?

On another note, I thought when the Greens got in, we might get a recycling service more like Magpie and be able to recycle garden waste. I didn't realise their entire focus would be on screwing up the roads. I've since taken the time to read their manifesto and the next step is congestion charging. Whoopiedoopiedoo!

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ShorehamBeachcomber says...
12:20pm Tue 12 Feb 13

My bin men used to get a Xmas tip every year, now after a bin 'refusal' 4 years ago (for something a passer by had pit in overnight) they will never get one again

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Rearrangethedeckchairs says...
12:36pm Tue 12 Feb 13

I have to say our bin men are brilliant. Not like where I used to live in London where the only tip I ever gave them was 'don't whistle while you are eating blacmange..'

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gheese77 says...
12:58pm Tue 12 Feb 13

The're not bin men they are recycling workers. In my experience bin men do a good job, its the recyling peoplewho are jobsworths

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jacsuejan says...
1:43pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Re bin to heavy

This year the recycle vehicle has been changed from the old side loader to a two section wheelie bin loader one large section for the plastic, tins & paper and a half size for the glass.
the operators then come around with two sizes of wheelie bins and commence to empty boxes into these which in turn are wheeled to the vehicle and emptied. when asked the diver said that it was a permanent vehicle on this round {whitehawk} So the question is why not replace the boxes {some house holds have 4 or more} with two wheelie bins one for glass and one for the rest of the recycling. then they would not have to pick up any thing that they concidered to heavy problem solved! Wait a minute we have wheelie bins for general refuse collections but the operatives bring their own wheelie bins and comence to take the refuse out of our bins and place it into theirs, wheres the health and safty in that, as I have seen them with their head and shoulders inside the bin to get the bottom bags, therefore breathing in all the germs that may lurk inside

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Andy R says...
3:32pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Why do some people think that other people should be obliged to cause themselves permanent injury on their behalf? I have never had any problems with getting recycling picked up but the operatives are entitled not to take unreasonable risks with their long-term health.

Anyway....reading this, I can't help thinking that the words "not being told whole story" are especially apt.....

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Roundbill says...
3:54pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Another inaccurate story, referring to a 44-year-old woman's 73-year-old father as her husband. Doesn't anybody proof-read these stories?

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vivelavive says...
5:48pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Employed to do manual labour but won't do any manual labour!

What is this country coming to!!

Let the Poles do it. They'll sort it out!

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Rearrangethedeckchairs says...
6:11pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Roundbill wrote:
Another inaccurate story, referring to a 44-year-old woman's 73-year-old father as her husband. Doesn't anybody proof-read these stories?
Inaccurate? The Argus? Never! How very dare you?!

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006 and a third says...
6:39pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Sorry if it upsets anyone but I believe it all ends up in landfill or 'long term storage' anyway. 'Recycling', if it occurs, is often just as damaging to the environment as primary manufacture anyway.

The whole 'green' thing is cobblers. It is almost certainly lucrative cobblers for some though.

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Maxwell's Ghost says...
6:52pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Heavy my backside Andy R.
Even when these boxes are filled with logs my missus can pick one up and she is a tiny lady.
What is amusing is that two visits were then made to the box to look at it and still they didn't work out that maybe two of them should lift it.
How many council workers does it take to change a lightbulb?
None, call in the private sector.

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Bob_The_Ferret says...
7:34pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Surely the basic requirements for refuse collectors is to be fit and strong, and properly trained in manual handling.

Anyone with these skills in any other industry would have been taught that if a load is too heavy for one man to lift safely, then 2 (or more) men should lift it together. Just leaving it and hoping it will go away isn't acceptable in any other business, so why should it be here?

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Morpheus says...
7:40pm Tue 12 Feb 13

Rearrangethedeckchai
rs wrote:
Roundbill wrote:
Another inaccurate story, referring to a 44-year-old woman's 73-year-old father as her husband. Doesn't anybody proof-read these stories?
Inaccurate? The Argus? Never! How very dare you?!
She is quoted as saying my 73 year old husband can lift it.

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nocando says...
7:54pm Tue 12 Feb 13

I used to drive dustcarts in Brighton 20 odd years ago. We went into peoples back gardens or wherever the dustbins were kept, didn't matter. Pick them up by the handle and carry them one handed over the shoulder out to the waggon and tip them in by hand, shoulder and elbow. Some were heavier than others or had to be carried further but we were all fit, strong, hard working and worth every penny of taxpayers money. People who whinged or dragged their heels tended not to last very long, it was a proper day's work for a proper day's pay, job and finish with a good dose of selection based on physical suitability. These modern waggons with push button hydraulics combined with a rather unhelpful recently developed culture of obstinacy and box ticking have unfortunately left us with a somewhat weedy 'work' force that aren't that brilliant at their jobs.
We only have to scroll down a few pages to read how these 'workers' are unhappy with the prospect of their wage restructure and how we are expected to feel sorry for them.
They may well find public sympathy a little more forthcoming if they actually did what we pay them to do, pick the blasted things up and empty them. For heavens sake, the lorry does most of it anyway.
It really is pathetic, lazy and unhelpful, no wonder everything costs so much money these days, people expect to be paid and pensioned without actually doing the work.
Send them back and if they complain, sack them. That's what would happen in my job, why are these feeble specimens exempt from any effort?

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cvs says...
10:21pm Tue 12 Feb 13

The Romanians are coming.

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monkeymoo says...
7:18am Wed 13 Feb 13

No point in recycling....
Far better to burn it all in that lovely shiny building in Newhaven.

At least that will help the share holders in power companies etc get richer, so someone benefits!

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qm says...
7:27am Wed 13 Feb 13

What a bunch of girls . . . mind you, my Polish au pair . . . . .

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John Steed says...
8:10am Wed 13 Feb 13

I remember metal bins which guy's heaved up on their shoulders and Brighton bin lorries that had trailers on the back for newspapers and cardboard recycling obviously brains have not replaced the brawn

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wippasnapper says...
11:30am Wed 13 Feb 13

wexler53 wrote:
Anyone who has worked on the bins - rubbish or recycling - will know that these bins can be seriously heavy. It only takes a few catalogues and it would be beyond what is reasononable.

I note there are two of them in the photo, and neither looks too relaxed.

The refuse and recycling guys do an excellent job overall. We should value their efforts on our behalf more. I can't think that too many of the readers would want to do the job.
Pardon the pun but yes I have worked on the dust and re-cycling before the days of neat wheel bins or little black boxes and you very rely heard anyone complaining the rubbish was to heavy to lift and plus a friend of mine his dad in his day had the big dustbins to lift and today there complaining the little black box is to heavy to lift do me a favor stop jerking off and get your fingers out you lazy bunch of wining wimps.

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wippasnapper says...
11:49am Wed 13 Feb 13

In today’s world of health and safety or should I say the lazy wimps who feel if they have to work hard to earn the daily crust one must first consider the wait of the item one is about to lift but I bet you wouldn’t hear them complain if they where lifting a 50” TV or the many other items that way far more than a box of wet paper!

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