Wirral News readers have their say in the great wheelie bin maggots debate

Sep 30 2009 by Carrie Catterall, Birkenhead News

There was a tremendous response to Wirral News’ story about bin maggots and bin collections. Here we print some viewpoints

ARE maggots a health hazard?

Last week in the News Wirral Council defended its decision to start collecting household waste fortnightly instead of weekly after some residents said their bins had become a breeding ground for maggots.

When Kathy Musker, of Greasby, contacted her local councillor to complain about her problem with maggots, she was told she was the only person out of the 6,600 people in her ward to complain about this issue this year.

Councillor Jean Quinn, cabinet member for Streetscene and transport services, said maggots can be avoided and even if people get them in their bins they are not a “health hazard”.

Dave Green, director of Wirral Council’s technical services added: “Our decision to start alternate weekly collections was not taken lightly and has saved the council (and the taxpayer) approximately £4.8m since it was introduced two years ago.”

A poll run at www.wirralnews.co.uk has this week revealed that 53.3% of thise who voted are concerned that their green bin only gets emptied once a fortnight.

The issue also provoked a strong reaction from our readers who have written to us with their views regarding bin collections.