WHEN YOUR RUBBISH MEN ARE RUBBISH
This week, we head to Emmerson St in North Perth, where suspicion is mounting as to why Town of Vincent garbage collectors (or "bin-men", as they are more affectionately known by residents) are continuously running late, or, in fact, not appearing at all, for their Thursday morning bin collection.
We all know what it feels like to forget to put out the bins. That sinking feeling when you are awoken at 5am by the familiar “far off, but close enough to know it will be your street soon” sound of the garbage bin truck’s brakes, only to leap out of bed and onto the street in your undies, pulling and dragging your green plastic friend up to the end of the driveway, positioning it parallel to the curbside, just in time to see the garbage truck amble right up to your house. You breathe a sigh of relief, and watch with satisfaction as your week’s refuse is shaken out into the truck by a big mechanical fist.
But what happens when you don’t hear those early morning heavy duty vehicle breaks? When you race out and position your bin, only to realize that no other bins on your street have yet been emptied? That it's just you, and your neighbours, standing around in your underwears, giving each other rather uncomfortable sideways glances?
The "bin-men", who have usually come and gone by the time residents awaken on Emmerson St on Thursday mornings, are now arriving at eleven, even twelve o clock - a far cry from what is a supposedly governmentally regulated norm.
Above: The Town of Vincent: A Town divided. Well, just a street really. And not so much divided, more ready to band together. Yeah so kind of unified.
No 12 Emmerson St resident, Janelle Mentesana, gave us some of her time, to discuss this perplexing, somewhat irritating, change in the garbage collection scheduling.
“I hadn’t brought in the bins for a while, so I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary happening. But then on Thursday, about midday, I went to drag in the bin, and I straightaway thought ‘This is heavier than usual, especially for an empty bin’. And then I opened the lid, and well, of course…it wasn’t empty. It was full, in fact.”
Above: Garbage Bins. Well, just the one.
Ms Mentesana, needless to say, quickly became distraught. “I mean, we’d recently had a bg party and it had been taking a while to get rid of all the bags of rubbish…and when I realized the bins weren’t empty, I just thought, well, Fucking Hell, are we ever going to get rid of all this party rubbish?”
Ms Mentesana was not alone in her worries. Alerting her roommate, a Miss Danielle Marsland, to the situation, the two began to investigate.
Says Ms Marsland, “ We walked up the street, flipping bin tops. We soon realized we weren’t alone. NO ONE’S bins had been emptied ANYWHERE on Emmerson St.”
Miss Mentesana further illuminated the situation “Everywhere. Rubbish. Rubbish…Everywhere.”
Adding further to the outrage, recent photographic stills suggest that Town of Vincent garbage trucks are stopping for extended intervals of time between bin-empties. Seen here just yesterday, a "bin-man" is seen to be "slacking off on the job", pouring himself a cup of tea from his thermos, whilst his truck remains stationary outside the No 12 Emmerson St residence.
The time? Almost one o clock in the afternoon.
Certainly not Kit-Kat time. And whilst no Kit-Kat was seen to be in evidence, that's not to say there wasn't one stashed in the glovebox. To be opened instead of emptying No 13's bin, perhaps?
Above: Enjoying a Nescafe moment. Its hard to see the coffee cup, but I assure you its there. Well, could be something more fancy he's wasting the Emmerson St taxpayers money on. Can't be sure. My bets are on Riva Gold.
Whilst its obvious the Town of Vincent Council is turning a blind eye to the almost deafening decline in discipline, the tables are about to turn, the chairs too maybe, with Emmerson St residents planning mass letter writing sessions, the first of which will double as a casual neighbourly street party, in the Emmerson St park.
Says Ms Marsland “Provided the crazy ducks don’t get too rabid, well…we should get a lot done at that letter writing session slash casual social get-together. A lot.”
Time will only tell whether the Town of Vincent Garbage Men will pick up their game. But with the advent of this excellent article, we could very well see amateur expose beat Time at its own game.
For the sake of the residents of Emmerson St, I hope this happens soon, if for no other reason than that it's wheelie-bin a big issue around here lately.
(Author's note: I also hope they get around to fixing the problem with the early morning park sprinklers outside my window, where every 20 seconds the high pressure sprinkler hits a signpost and makes a slightly annoying ringing noise. Suggestions so far: tie a tea towel around the pole, possibly a bath towel.)
We all know what it feels like to forget to put out the bins. That sinking feeling when you are awoken at 5am by the familiar “far off, but close enough to know it will be your street soon” sound of the garbage bin truck’s brakes, only to leap out of bed and onto the street in your undies, pulling and dragging your green plastic friend up to the end of the driveway, positioning it parallel to the curbside, just in time to see the garbage truck amble right up to your house. You breathe a sigh of relief, and watch with satisfaction as your week’s refuse is shaken out into the truck by a big mechanical fist.
But what happens when you don’t hear those early morning heavy duty vehicle breaks? When you race out and position your bin, only to realize that no other bins on your street have yet been emptied? That it's just you, and your neighbours, standing around in your underwears, giving each other rather uncomfortable sideways glances?
The "bin-men", who have usually come and gone by the time residents awaken on Emmerson St on Thursday mornings, are now arriving at eleven, even twelve o clock - a far cry from what is a supposedly governmentally regulated norm.
Above: The Town of Vincent: A Town divided. Well, just a street really. And not so much divided, more ready to band together. Yeah so kind of unified.
No 12 Emmerson St resident, Janelle Mentesana, gave us some of her time, to discuss this perplexing, somewhat irritating, change in the garbage collection scheduling.
“I hadn’t brought in the bins for a while, so I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary happening. But then on Thursday, about midday, I went to drag in the bin, and I straightaway thought ‘This is heavier than usual, especially for an empty bin’. And then I opened the lid, and well, of course…it wasn’t empty. It was full, in fact.”
Above: Garbage Bins. Well, just the one.
Ms Mentesana, needless to say, quickly became distraught. “I mean, we’d recently had a bg party and it had been taking a while to get rid of all the bags of rubbish…and when I realized the bins weren’t empty, I just thought, well, Fucking Hell, are we ever going to get rid of all this party rubbish?”
Ms Mentesana was not alone in her worries. Alerting her roommate, a Miss Danielle Marsland, to the situation, the two began to investigate.
Says Ms Marsland, “ We walked up the street, flipping bin tops. We soon realized we weren’t alone. NO ONE’S bins had been emptied ANYWHERE on Emmerson St.”
Miss Mentesana further illuminated the situation “Everywhere. Rubbish. Rubbish…Everywhere.”
Adding further to the outrage, recent photographic stills suggest that Town of Vincent garbage trucks are stopping for extended intervals of time between bin-empties. Seen here just yesterday, a "bin-man" is seen to be "slacking off on the job", pouring himself a cup of tea from his thermos, whilst his truck remains stationary outside the No 12 Emmerson St residence.
The time? Almost one o clock in the afternoon.
Certainly not Kit-Kat time. And whilst no Kit-Kat was seen to be in evidence, that's not to say there wasn't one stashed in the glovebox. To be opened instead of emptying No 13's bin, perhaps?
Above: Enjoying a Nescafe moment. Its hard to see the coffee cup, but I assure you its there. Well, could be something more fancy he's wasting the Emmerson St taxpayers money on. Can't be sure. My bets are on Riva Gold.
Whilst its obvious the Town of Vincent Council is turning a blind eye to the almost deafening decline in discipline, the tables are about to turn, the chairs too maybe, with Emmerson St residents planning mass letter writing sessions, the first of which will double as a casual neighbourly street party, in the Emmerson St park.
Says Ms Marsland “Provided the crazy ducks don’t get too rabid, well…we should get a lot done at that letter writing session slash casual social get-together. A lot.”
Time will only tell whether the Town of Vincent Garbage Men will pick up their game. But with the advent of this excellent article, we could very well see amateur expose beat Time at its own game.
For the sake of the residents of Emmerson St, I hope this happens soon, if for no other reason than that it's wheelie-bin a big issue around here lately.
(Author's note: I also hope they get around to fixing the problem with the early morning park sprinklers outside my window, where every 20 seconds the high pressure sprinkler hits a signpost and makes a slightly annoying ringing noise. Suggestions so far: tie a tea towel around the pole, possibly a bath towel.)