Are our binmen over zealous?

The Daily Mail are getting themselves in a tizzy (aren't they always?) because a Charlton binman refused to take contiminated rubbish away. The 'contamination' in this case was a bread crust. And the bin owner, Michael Carter, isn't very happy about it.

Which has got me thinking. Are our binmen over zealous? I'm not so sure. I'm not always very good at sorting out my rubbish. Which my housemate gets angry about. If I can't be bothered to take the bins out, recyling goes in the waste bin occasionally. If we've run out of clear bags, black bags are used for recycling. Sometimes we get told off, sometimes we don't.

But if they don't take the rubbish, there's often a good reason for it isn't there? Carter's rubbish was contaminated, and I don't think it's a binman's job to search through the rest of the bag 'just to double check'. Sure, there might not have been any more issues with the bag, but better safe than sorry, surely?

I think our bin men have got a lot better recently, I think our collections are more reliable, and there's some leniancy. I still get told off for not bringing my bin in and leaving it on the pavement (very bad, I know, bet you do it too sometimes). I don't think the guys do a bad job. I certainly don't think it's an issue for National news.

Maybe I'm wrong, anyone else have major issues with the bin collections? Aside from the fact they wake you up early in the morning?

Flickr image from RachelH_'s photostream.