Wind day and bin day is an ugly mix

Why, with such an early and widely known heads-up that the weather was going to be rubbish, do people still put their bins out? Bin days should be changed when the weather is bad. HAVE YOUR SAY >

IT’S an ugly sight. Rubbish bins and their contents strewn across our city streets after a night of wild weather and gusty winds. 

Full disclosure; my household’s bins were among the many bins in the city that had fallen over during the night.

However, it’s not the first time I’ve seen it and I doubt it’ll be the last.

But every time I do see it, I can’t help but think “this is avoidable”. It has happened for as long as I can remember, not just here but also during my stints living in Queensland and Western Australia.

This week, the Mercury and most other Tasmanian media outlets were alerted that the weather was going to get ugly by the Bureau of Meteorology.

This is often the case when forecasters see bad weather on the horizon. We are all contacted by a liaison from the bureau who provides an extensive list of talking points and forecasters are even made available for interview.

When we do get these alerts, the media does its best to keep the public informed as early as possible. Even if you don’t read the news or tune into the evening bulletins on TV, isn’t the weather always the ultimate go-to conversation starter?

So why, with such an early and widely known heads-up that the weather was going to be rubbish, did I still put my bin out? And why did my walk to work down Elizabeth St in the early morning involve a number of stops to drag bins off the road, out of the path of morning traffic?

Because it was bin day of course, and you can’t miss bin day.

Wild weather on Tuesday night saw bin over the roads in Southern Tasmania

You can’t blame the average Joe for putting their bins out knowing full-well there’s a good chance they’ll be on the other side of the road in the morning. Joe doesn’t want his/her rubbish all over the road for the world to see, ending up who knows where, but what else is one to do?

Especially if you don’t have an appropriate car, the time, or the funds, to take your chockers bins to the tip. I doubt there are many people who would take joy in seeing what I saw yesterday morning when the gutters of our main city streets were filled with all sorts of rubbish. There must be a better way to go about this.

One colleague of mine said she sets an alarm for half an hour or so before the truck arrives to pick up her trash to limit the time her poor bins are exposed to the elements. I know not everyone has that luxury of being home at that time but it’s worth keeping in mind.

As vouchers are in vogue right now, why not offer tip vouchers and call off the run for that day depending on your municipality and their approach to tip fees - It all ends up there anyway. Better yet, push bin day back until the weather clears up.

Cold front to cross #Tasmania today, with the next front Fri and a stronger front on Sun. Fresh to strong and gusty W to NW winds across the state until Tues next week. Stay safe and hold onto your hats! pic.twitter.com/mZo2NRTVct

— Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania (@BOM_Tas) August 11, 2021

A communications nightmare is the scenario that comes to mind as a reason why this wouldn’t work but the BOM does a good job of letting the public know what the weather is doing well in advance.

The emergency services like Tasmania’s fireys and the police are pretty savvy when spreading information to the masses about an incident, a road closure or a missing person. Humans are also very good at changing habits when it affects them like they do when they keep an eye on the weather, or figure out what’s going on in their neighbourhood when they hear sirens and other commotion.

The media always does its best to make sure the community knows what’s happening too - that’s our job. Why can’t our councils do the same? I’m positive most media would be more than happy to help get the message out to affected residents.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s a sight I have seen plenty of times and will no doubt again but I have no doubt in my mind most would be keen to avoid kneeling down and picking soggy rubbish out of the gutter if we could.

Jack Evans is a Hobart-based digital producer and reporter at the Mercury.