It’s Rubbish!

20 May It’s Rubbish!

Dear Here to Help,

I am concerned about the number of older people who fall over putting out their rubbish bins. A friend of mine who works in emergency says they have at least one admission per month! Surely, someone should do something to help prevent these avoidable accidents? Like a council service to pick up bins from registered elderly people.

Thank you for your query.

Rubbish bins can be a contentious subject.

When we were kids, my parents left us with a family friend for a weekend once. She took great joy shouting “c’mon kids! Let’s make your Dad’s bin smell like an actual bin.” I had a neighbour who always had extra rubbish – he offered to take out my bin each week if he could fill it up with his rubbish. Years later, my mother’s neighbour filled her bins on rubbish day. She wasn’t happy with this. I suggested to the neighbour that it might be helpful to take Mum’s bins out for her in exchange – and he does.

You raise an interesting issue. It demonstrates the difficulties of where private responsibility ends and public responsibility start. There is another aspect here – that of community responsibility. For government to be affordable, there needs to be a balance between what people do for themselves, what neighbours and communities do for one another (like my mum’s neighbour taking her bin out for her) and what people do for themselves. If government did it all for us, our rates and tax bills would be much more expensive to pay for all these additional services.

On the other hand, hospital admissions and care are very expensive. And it is our tax dollars that pay for this expensive hospital care when someone falls over taking their bins out.

A local over 50s village body corporate has arranged with council to pick up bins from each house in the complex, rather than pick up all the bins at the entrance. The deal is that all driveways must be clear on bin day.

The question here is how to find the best balance. If you have a neighbour at risk of falling over on bin day, they may appreciate you helping with their bins. If you live with other elderly people or this is not practical, maybe your aged care provider or council has a service that can help you with your bins. It never hurts to raise the question.

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, May 2023. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.