Dog walker’s fury at overflowing bins in Whitstable
Published: 13:53, 25 August 2023
A furious dog walker has hit out at the council for not emptying overflowing public bins, saying “every year it is the same old thing”.
The Whitstable resident shared pictures on social media of litter spilling onto the street, fearing the waste could end up in the sea.
However Canterbury City Council (CCC), says crews are working harder than ever and bins along the coastline are emptied up to nine times a day.
Sharing his pictures on Facebook, the disgruntled resident, who did want to be named, wrote: “Canterbury City Council can you please explain why our bins are completely full at 6am and broken glass over the pavements?
Speaking to KentOnline, the keen walker, said every morning he takes his dogs along the coast and all the bins are full.
“The council has a responsibility to empty bins,” he said.
“It seems a culture to leave the bins in the night. Every morning I walk the dogs along the coast, and every bin is full.
“They say take it home, but they cannot even empty the bins at home either. I'm told the crews start at 4am but I never see any at 4am – I always see the crew in McDonald's.
“I understand we all need breaks but it's not rocket science to be a responsible council and have a clean at night and an early clean, so we do not have over-spilling bins.”
He added that Whitstable thrives on tourists and believes it is important the town is kept clean.
“I have complained to CCC before but they don't listen,” he said.
“Every year it is the same old thing. I must admit they have put extra bins on the top of the slopes, but these are full too.”
A spokesperson for CCC said tackling litter along the seafront is “back-breaking work”, and it’s not safe for bins to emptied at night.
They said: "Our 14 miles of coastline is home to 912 litter and dog waste bins that are emptied up to nine times a day by crews working between 4am and 8.30pm.
“While we understand people tend to party until it gets dark, it’s simply not safe for crews to litter pick at that time of night.
"Cleaning up after everyone else on our beaches is back-breaking work.
"When our early crews start it takes them a while to work their way up the coast.
‘Cleaning up after everyone else on our beaches is back-breaking work...’
"We get the fact there is a clash between the night owls and the early birds - two very different groups of beach users.
“We apologise to the latter because we get the fact some beaches are not at their best when they venture out first thing.
"Every year we bring in extra 1100 litre bins and we’ve found ways to reduce the number of times crews need to take rubbish to the tip so they can concentrate on collecting litter.
"We have signs out asking people to use the bins not the beach, a no-brainer in our view, and to take their litter to the next bin or home if the one they are at is full."
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Chantal Weller