This is in response to W Dobson, regarding removal of garden refuse. I live in Gulf View, in south Trinidad. When we moved into this area 32 years ago, we had a very good garbage removal system. The truck would take two bags from each household, no matter what they contained, as long as they were properly bagged. We had no municipal truck for garden refuse specifically. If you cut down a tree, you could hire a municipal truck, for a fee, and they would remove the debris.
When a new garbage company came in a few years later, he attempted to only take the bags containing the garbage. The community complained and the garbage collector was spoken to, and he again took two bags. This continued for years.
Within the last couple of years, we have had a collector who only takes one bag from each household. Not only that, but this collector has only one loader. When this was pointed out to the relevant authority, they said the truck should have two loaders. It was in the contract. To date, there is still one loader, and if you are lucky, one bag will be removed. My neighbour gets around this problem by giving the truck loader "a few dollars" to take away her garden clippings.
What this has done is create a pressing need for a municipal truck to come around, periodically, and pick up the garden refuse. I always put my garden refuse in bags, for easy disposal. But some of the neighbours are not so considerate. They pile all sorts of garden debris and occasionally household items on the roadside, which, as you can imagine, do not make for a very pretty outlook. And all because one garbage collector does not do the job properly, that he is being paid to do.
And, yes, W Dobson, it would seem it is part of the "senseless dotishness" that we have to contend with.
Anne Murphy,