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Are you happy with the upkeep of your area?

hardybuck

I'm wondering if it's just me or if other people have noticed similar issues.

As someone who's living outside of Waterford coming home periodically, certain things stand out to me every time I come back. It's very obvious that a lot of work has gone into the areas of the city centre which are directed towards tourists - badly overdue and looks like a pretty good job done overall.

However, it seems as though the subarbs in around my neck of the woods are in absolute bits!

A few things I've noticed:

- Very sporadic availability of public bins. I went for one walk of an hour with my dogs, carrying dog litter, and didn't pass a single bin, in a very busy area with lots of footfall, including children

- A huge volume of dog litter and general litter - probably due to lack of bins

- Saw two places which were very badly littered due to fly tipping

- Footpaths literally crumbling away under foot

- Green spaces (trees, grass banks etc) not being maintained. Incidentially I went to the Council website and they haven't even populated that section of their website: http://www.waterfordcouncil.ie/departments/environment/parks-openspaces.htm

Has anyone else noticed similar stuff or is it just me!?

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Harry Palmr

Council have no money for anything. The roads are in a terrible state around the town and the fix is a shovel of hot tar.

BBM77

hardybuck wrote: »

I'm wondering if it's just me or if other people have noticed similar issues.

As someone who's living outside of Waterford coming home periodically, certain things stand out to me every time I come back. It's very obvious that a lot of work has gone into the areas of the city centre which are directed towards tourists - badly overdue and looks like a pretty good job done overall.

However, it seems as though the subarbs in around my neck of the woods are in absolute bits!

A few things I've noticed:

- Very sporadic availability of public bins. I went for one walk of an hour with my dogs, carrying dog litter, and didn't pass a single bin, in a very busy area with lots of footfall, including children

- A huge volume of dog litter and general litter - probably due to lack of bins

- Saw two places which were very badly littered due to fly tipping

- Footpaths literally crumbling away under foot

- Green spaces (trees, grass banks etc) not being maintained. Incidentially I went to the Council website and they haven't even populated that section of their website: http://www.waterfordcouncil.ie/departments/environment/parks-openspaces.htm

Has anyone else noticed similar stuff or is it just me!?

I think it is more to do with attitude.

hardybuck

BBM77 wrote: »

I think it is more to do with attitude.

Attitude definitely, but a little bit of behavioural economics, i.e. offer a bin to put it in, would definitely help.

On a similar walk in my area of Dublin (which would have roughly the same demographic) I'd be passing one every 10 mins walking. They seem to offset the cost of them by putting some advertising on the side of it.

BamesJond

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Council have no money for anything. The roads are in a terrible state around the town and the fix is a shovel of hot tar.

This is a huge problem. Roads all over the city are in bits no matter what direction your travelling. Disgraceful surfaces even on "newer" streets. If annoying to locals when travelling, it must be noticed by people visiting the city aswell. Makes the place feel cheap.

Wanderer78

'expansionary fiscal contraction' id imagine:rolleyes:

TinaW

There is litter everywhere I look lately.... A lot of people are just too lazy to put things in a bin or they just don't care. Back of Tesco (Poleberry) there is cans littered around with recycling bins two metres away!! Up at the old glass factory on the Cork Road there is TONS of rubbish over the fence. It's really starting to bother me how little people care about the place they are living

Deise Vu

I don't think it is as bad as ye are making out, otherwise Waterford wouldn't be topping the IBAL anti-litter league for major urban areas. I think the City Council has been very pro-active when it comes to cleaning up other people's mess (fly-tipping on approach roads; continual maintenance during festivals etc). I have even seen them hoovering up leaves on the Tramore Road as far as Katie Reillys.

The problem with providing bins is that there is a sizeable minority who think a bin means: "dump anything you like in the immediate vicinity, we'll be around to collect it." We really could do with with a load of litter wardens on a percentage of the fines. They would make a profit we could use to improve public spaces.

As for dogs (and cats for that matter, one of the neighbours has cats that think my garden is ideal for depositing their crap), I would make chipping and the provision of a DNA sample compulsory (I don't care what that would cost - if you can't afford it, don't get a dog). Any dog found unchipped gets a bullet, any crap found on the road gets a €1,000 fine. We would soon find out who really loves their dog.

hardybuck

Deise Vu wrote: »

I don't think it is as bad as ye are making out, otherwise Waterford wouldn't be topping the IBAL anti-litter league for major urban areas. I think the City Council has been very pro-active when it comes to cleaning up other people's mess (fly-tipping on approach roads; continual maintenance during festivals etc). I have even seen them hoovering up leaves on the Tramore Road as far as Katie Reillys.

The problem with providing bins is that there is a sizeable minority who think a bin means: "dump anything you like in the immediate vicinity, we'll be around to collect it." We really could do with with a load of litter wardens on a percentage of the fines. They would make a profit we could use to improve public spaces.

As for dogs (and cats for that matter, one of the neighbours has cats that think my garden is ideal for depositing their crap), I would make chipping and the provision of a DNA sample compulsory (I don't care what that would cost - if you can't afford it, don't get a dog). Any dog found unchipped gets a bullet, any crap found on the road gets a €1,000 fine. We would soon find out who really loves their dog.

I did note that Waterford definitely gets consistently good reviews on the IBAL surveys etc., but we're talking about the subarbs here. Do those areas get included in the assessments?

Do you think we have enough bins? I think we should be aiming for more than one every few miles, which is what you'll get in certain routes around the city subarbs.

I think the DNA testing of dogs is done in Seville, I'm not sure if that's too heavy handed, but nobody wants log litter on the streets anymore. If you were going that route, you'd have to do it for cats, horses, cattle, so I'm not sure if that's feasible.

Deise Vu

hardybuck wrote: »

I did note that Waterford definitely gets consistently good reviews on the IBAL surveys etc., but we're talking about the subarbs here. Do those areas get included in the assessments?

Do you think we have enough bins? I think we should be aiming for more than one every few miles, which is what you'll get in certain routes around the city subarbs.

I think the DNA testing of dogs is done in Seville, I'm not sure if that's too heavy handed, but nobody wants log litter on the streets anymore. If you were going that route, you'd have to do it for cats, horses, cattle, so I'm not sure if that's feasible.

Suburbs absolutely do get included in the IBAL survey. They specifically mentioned one blackspot in Ballybeg (as well as praising other parts of Ballybeg) in their last report.

As mentioned in my earlier post, a lot of people think bins mean you can put anything you like in, on or around them and thus can actually lead to littering. I think the approach, whether you agree it is practical or not, is: "your rubbish; your problem."

As regards DNA, it might be just me but I don't see a lot of cowshít or horseshít around town. I would definitely be in favour of including cats in any purge against animals.

hardybuck

Deise Vu wrote: »

Suburbs absolutely do get included in the IBAL survey. They specifically mentioned one blackspot in Ballybeg (as well as praising other parts of Ballybeg) in their last report.

As mentioned in my earlier post, a lot of people think bins mean you can put anything you like in, on or around them and thus can actually lead to littering. I think the approach, whether you agree it is practical or not, is: "your rubbish; your problem."

As regards DNA, it might be just me but I don't see a lot of cowshít or horseshít around town. I would definitely be in favour of including cats in any purge against animals.

With regard to your last comment, to make that enforceable, you'd need either a bylaw or legislation. I'm not sure if you could confine that to one particular area. So you might need to consider marts, places where there is meat processing etc. Certainly in places like Killarney they did have a big problem with horse manure.

Thanks for the confirmation of where the survey covers.

All I can say is that several locations were badly littered over the Christmas period. Maybe the Council workers were all on holidays. But if you have significant volumes of kids walking home from school, and people walking home with takeaways from pubs, and there is no bins, rubbish is going on the ground.

Johnboy1951

I don't see any problem with chipping dogs & cats, and dealing with any strays found.
As regards marts & cattle etc ..... these are not pets and in any case are tagged so are identifiable.
Horses also, when kept by urban dwellers, or who wish to enter urban areas regularly should also be chipped.
Again I see no real problem with doing so.

It all comes down to how well we want to manage what is now a serious problem in some areas.

hardybuck

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I don't see any problem with chipping dogs & cats, and dealing with any strays found.
As regards marts & cattle etc ..... these are not pets and in any case are tagged so are identifiable.
Horses also, when kept by urban dwellers, or who wish to enter urban areas regularly should also be chipped.
Again I see no real problem with doing so.

It all comes down to how well we want to manage what is now a serious problem in some areas.

Just on my way home earlier in Dublin. The area all around here is absolutely spotless. Zero rubbish and rarely ever animal mess.

On a 5 minute stroll I passed 4 dog walkers, one of whom was actually picking up mess as I passed them, and they were about 5 mins away from a bin.

Maybe people respect the area better here, but I think by making bins available you're encouraging better behaviour.

mooseknunkle

Deise Vu wrote: »

I would make chipping and the provision of a DNA sample compulsory (I don't care what that would cost - if you can't afford it, don't get a dog). Any dog found unchipped gets a bullet, any crap found on the road gets a €1,000 fine. We would soon find out who really loves their dog.

They should make it compulsory for kids to be chipped too and if you cant afford it and the kid is found unchipped they get a bullet :rolleyes:

Deise Vu

mooseknunkle wrote: »

They should make it compulsory for kids to be chipped too and if you cant afford it and the kid is found unchipped they get a bullet :rolleyes:

Yeah because Kids are the sames as dogs. Good point.

kuang1

hardybuck wrote: »

I think by making bins available you're encouraging better behaviour.

You're 100% right.
I frequently walk the dunmore road & williamstown road loop with my dog.
As an example, on the williamstown road between the Gaelscoil in Ballygunner, and the ring road roundabout by the solas centre, there is 1 bin.
On the dunmore road I typically end up using the bins at the petrol station opposite collins avenue or outside Londis (beside oscars). (i.e. non-council maintained bins.)

I don't think we necessarily need shedloads more bins, but a few would be very much appreciated.
(And I acknowledge that every bin requires maintenance so it's not just as simple as erecting bins all over the shop, there is significant cost involved. I presume this is why there are no bins along the greenway other than at entry/exit points.)

As for the argument that "Oh if you have more bins people just end up dumping bags of rubbish beside them!"
Please.
Where is this a common occurence in suburbia?

Max Powers

Single biggest thing needed is a change of attitude by public...my waste,I deal with it responsibly, if that means putting it in handy bin, great, if no bin, bring it home to your bin, it's your waste after all. Recycling the same, we need to do it properly and stop thinking of every excuse going, all the info is there, laziness is Id guess is biggest hindrance.in my view, there should be no need for any bins outside of city centre, shops, public buildings and schools.

Regarding where I live, there is often dumping and, the council must come by regularly as the offending items never stay for too long, could be a couple days, maybe a week but in general, it's gone reasonably quick. Small enough pothole appeared recently too, say 30cm by 30cm, that was filled within a week or two also, certainly before it became big. There are also a few people in my neighborhood, including myself who will occasionally pick up some rubbish, wrapper, can, etc left outside house.It all helps.

debok

As for the argument that "Oh if you have more bins people just end up dumping bags of rubbish beside them!"
Please.
Where is this a common occurence in suburbia?[/quote]

This happens alot at the bin by the bus stop at grantstown park. At least once a week there is black sacks left beside it.

kuang1

debok wrote: »

This happens alot at the bin by the bus stop at grantstown park. At least once a week there is black sacks left beside it.

I've yet to see that but must keep an eye out for it.

debok

kuang1 wrote: »

I've yet to see that but must keep an eye out for it.

Yeh i get first bus there every morning and regularly there's at least one bag. In saying that its usually gone by time I'm coming home so council must collect them fairly quickly.

kuang1

Max Powers wrote: »

Single biggest thing needed is a change of attitude by public...my waste,I deal with it responsibly, if that means putting it in handy bin, great, if no bin, bring it home to your bin, it's your waste after all. Recycling the same, we need to do it properly and stop thinking of every excuse going, all the info is there, laziness is Id guess is biggest hindrance.in my view, there should be no need for any bins outside of city centre, shops, public buildings and schools.

Dunno if you travel much Max, but this ain't how it's done in other countries. (I'm thinking of North America and Europe).
The ideal is exactly as you say. Your rubbish, your onus.
Sadly that's not a realistic goal for the masses of today.
What helps to curtail bad rubbish behaviour is minimising the number of excuses people can use.
Provision of more bins ticks that box.

kuang1

debok wrote: »

Yeh i get first bus there every morning and regularly there's at least one bag. In saying that its usually gone by time I'm coming home so council must collect them fairly quickly.

I guess the culprit(s) are highly unlikely to try to pull a stunt like that in daylight hours. Might explain why I haven't seen it.
I'm a big fan of Karma, so they'll get theirs in time I'm sure.

spankmemunkey

Bins should no longer be an option to pay for by households, the cost of waste should be deducted directly through taxes local taxes etc.

The idea of giving people the option to pay for waste removal is ludicrous that's one option but sure as soon as someone suggests it, it will be a case of oh Nanny state etc etc. Even at that every household should be registered with their local council in some form to prove that they are signed up to a waste provider using some sort of cross reference code.

I was told before that the lack of bins in Waterford was due to the fact that people fill them up with their own rubbish, even at that if you look at any bins out side shops they usually have those bars down the middle now so as you can only just about get your hand in with waste

Max Powers

kuang1 wrote: »

Dunno if you travel much Max, but this ain't how it's done in other countries. (I'm thinking of North America and Europe).
The ideal is exactly as you say. Your rubbish, your onus.
Sadly that's not a realistic goal for the masses of today.
What helps to curtail bad rubbish behaviour is minimising the number of excuses people can use.
Provision of more bins ticks that box.

Do American or other EU countries have more bins than us? I don't notice loads of bins when ever I traveled.One of the noticeably cleanest places I traveled around is Germany, they also have one of the highest recycling rates, this ain't because they have bins everywhere, it's because they buy into society stuff like that, act responsibly, like adults and it's not an issue for them.I'd guess many of these cleanest countries have implemented fines if people don't do what any normal Joe should do, they don't listen to the silly excuses about not having a bin every few hundred meters in a suburban area, etc.I recently listened to a podcast interview about their waste water treatment system in Germany, (exciting ey)the American chap asked him about things being put down toilet that shouldn't be, condoms, wet wipes, floss, etc and the German guy said, we just don't have an issue with that, the American couldn't believe it, again, they know what you are meant/not meant to do and they get on with it without the whinging about excuses and cop outs like we specialise at in this country.

Max Powers

spankmemunkey wrote: »

Bins should no longer be an option to pay for by households, the cost of waste should be deducted directly through taxes local taxes etc.

The idea of giving people the option to pay for waste removal is ludicrous that's one option but sure as soon as someone suggests it, it will be a case of oh Nanny state etc etc. Even at that every household should be registered with their local council in some form to prove that they are signed up to a waste provider using some sort of cross reference code.

I was told before that the lack of bins in Waterford was due to the fact that people fill them up with their own rubbish, even at that if you look at any bins out side shops they usually have those bars down the middle now so as you can only just about get your hand in with waste

Totally agree, should have to prove your waste is being disposed of properly.id guess same people who would give out about something like that would also be strongly out against publishing pictures of dumpers, like they did in Dublin last year.

Harry Palmr

Can anyone remember why waste collection was privatised?

Deise Vu

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Can anyone remember why waste collection was privatised?

Cough...Cough...don't go there.....public V private...cough .... Army lads cleaning the streets because the bin lads are on strike yet again??? ......

hardybuck

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Can anyone remember why waste collection was privatised?

Many Councils were losing millions every year through unpaid charges. It was economically unsustainable for them to remain in the business.

The other side of the debate was bin waivers for people who it was deemed couldn't afford bin charges. I think the move away from public services was deemed to have been linked to an increase in fly tipping.

I suppose it really boils down to what side of the fence you're on - do you believe in privatisation or not. Do you think it's a good idea that publicly owned firms in transport, waste collection, health etc. are a good idea or not.

aziz

My neighbours have never put out a bin in the ten years I've been living beside them.the rubbish just accumulates in their back yard until the council from pressure from myself and other neighbours will get a team in to clear out and fumigate the house.
The last time it was done was about a year ago and two large skips were filled with over two hundred bags of rubbish.
I have complained to environmental health and they said that there is nothing they can do only to advise the council.

kayaksurfbum

Iv seen people in carrickpherish kick their rubbish out onto the road in sacks. The council are always up pretty quick to clean it up.

In the defence of the rubbish throwers their houses are on wheels so maybe they don't have a bin that can be collected!!!

It's a good thing the tax payer foots the bill for such polluters.

Wanderer78

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Can anyone remember why waste collection was privatised?

neoliberial ideology mainly with its partner in crime, 'the market'!