Southampton Strikes

I have always been bought up to care about the world around me, my parents recycle everything that they can, the TV is turned off at the wall when it's not being used and the rule always stands that if you leave a room you turn the light off. My dad has drummed this in to me from a very young age, I will admit he does still have to moan at me now and then when I leave something on over night or I put cardboard or plastic in to the rubbish bin, but I do what I can.

Now that I am living in a rented house with other young people I'm struggling to live by those rules which at the moment is made even harder by the continuous bin strikes in Southampton (yeah that's right, bin strikes - they are not kool.) Our recycling bin is still full from the people that lived in this house before and I would put money on the fact it doesn't even have recyclable items in it. The strike is a massive hassle and the streets of Southampton are absolutely disgusting to say the least. Bins are full to the brim in the high street causing litter to fall on to the floor and be swept up and down the street by the wind, gathering in shop door ways and around seating areas. I wonder, what people think if they are visiting Southampton for the day or for a holiday. They wont exactly leave thinking it's a gorgeous city with well kept streets will they now? As for the polygon where a lot of the student houses are, bins are full causing bin bags to be thrown on to the pavement and during the night ripped and torn apart by animals which leaves rubbish up and down the pavements and no one clears it up. It doesn't just look awful, I can imagine how much of a health hazard it is. With the weather like it has been lately the high temperatures cause it to smell and I'm sure I don't need to tell you it's a rats haven. I dread to think what goes on outside my bedroom window on the roads when we go to sleep at night.


So why does Southampton currently look like a landfill site? Well, 4,300 council workers including bin men and street cleaners, have been threatened with being sacked from their positions if they do not agree to sign up to new contracts which will cut their pay by up to 5.5 percent from July 11th. These budget savings need to be made to save 400 jobs. The strikes are in to their third month now and the streets are getting worse. Read more here.


So with the strike not exactly helping with recycling in our new house, I'm feeling guilty every time I put a can or plastic in to the bin. I can just imagine my dad shaking is head disappointingly at me. Not only that, I feel guilty. I don't just recycle because my dad says I should, It's because I care as well. Some people are ignorant to global warming, and the effect it has on the planet. I'm no expert to be honest but I do care. Some people just point blank don't!

The issue of having no where to put the rubbish as the bins are full outside is a problem. We seem to generate so much waste and because everything is being thrown in together we are having to take the bins out every couple of days. If we flattened plastic packaging and cardboard etc. and separated our waste the bin in the kitchen definitely would not fill up so quickly. I'll reiterate my point however, with the bins outside still full, if we separate our rubbish there will quite literally be no where to put it. It's like viscous circle. Either way we can't win until the strike ends, we have empty bins and we know what we are doing and where everything goes.

So I now realise how much I sound like a moaning old woman but I think it's all relevant right? I might only be 19 but you can care about these things just as much as when your young and I think some people seem to forget that.