Organising waste is, well, a waste.
In our throwaway society we generate a lot of waste. Not only does the likes of Amazon kill a forest of trees everyday by the looks of the size packaging they use for even the smallest item, but we now buy items that are priced to be disposable after one or two uses.
I well remember my mum taking the darning needles to woollen socks to double or even treble their already long lifespan, and clothing for the children was hand me downs, especially school uniforms.
In relation to the latter, there are now groups popping up all over the county where school uniform can be donated and reissued which a) keeps costs down for the parents, b) extends the life of the uniform, and c) means less goes to waste. Long may these groups prosper.
But when it comes to high street fashions, when you can buy a lady’s vest top in one store for £2 it begs several questions: How can they sell at that price considering the material has to be sourced, the garment made and then transported from Bangladesh? How many garments does the Bangladeshi sweat shop worker have to produce in a week for them to make a wage they can live on?
Would anyone in this country want to work for their hourly rate? No? Thought not.
But at £2 a pop, they fly off the shelves and it probably isn’t worth washing after it has been worn.
Oh, and before anyone thinks I am having a go at the ladies for their throwaway fashions, you can buy a men’s T shirt in the same shop for £2.50 in a variety of colours.
And when it comes to refuse collections, Cumberland Council, increasing council tax by 4.99%, will, from next month, also be charging anyone who wants a second garden waste bin collected. In Barrow, they already levy a charge for collecting garden waste.
Late last year, this column mentioned the consultation into waste collections in the Cumberland Council area, a consultation that ran until January 8, and noted that it appeared the consultation was worthless as decisions had already been made the previous November.
Interestingly, now several weeks after the consultation closed, Cumberland Council don’t seem to be in any hurry to tell us what the consultation said. Perhaps the responses from the public were so painful to the sensitive ears of our council leaders, they never will!
And what about the amenity sites where you can take household waste for recycling?
We have several of these Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC) around the county and trying to understand how they operate, who funds them and who is ultimately responsible is like trying to plait clouds.
In a visit to one such HWRC recently, the very helpful chap there said that the cost of the site was covered from central government but that he was employed by Biffa who, apparently, have a contract to operate the site.
However, on the approach, but outside the fence, were some containers for cans, bottles and wastepaper. These, he told me, were not part of the HRWC but were the responsibility of the local authority. I trust my open mouth, silent, response was noted.
Since April Fool’s Day 2023, when we moved from 6 district councils and one county council to the two unitary authorities, 2 years down the road we still appear to have 6 separate arrangements for waste collection with the HWRC sitting somewhere alongside.
So, is it any wonder local authorities are burdened with so much debt when they haven’t joined up the writing on issues such as waste? And when we have a Cumbria mayor sitting over the top of the two councils will waste services be one that she or he will be keen to get stuck into?
As central Government rides headlong into its policy of cutting down on local bureaucracy, while, nationally, councils are sitting with £43 billion of debt, just think who will be picking up the tab for yet another reorganisation?
We all have a responsibility to minimise waste where we can and where waste is necessary, that it is dealt with appropriately. But we should expect that those we vote into office, locally, can use their resources efficiently, providing value for money for the council taxpayer, and stop seeing the same people as cash cows to be plundered.
Our local governments, if the Grant Thornton report into Cumberland Council’s financial arrangements, and the current debt of around £200m for Westmorland and Furness Council, are anything to go by, we might be excused for having little or no confidence in the current set up and can only hope that whoever becomes Cumbria mayor, can have a significant beneficial impact on the services we receive and how much it costs us.
In the meantime, will someone please empty my litter tray!
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and, now, back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world.
