A rubbish service that is punctual and reliable

8:51am Thursday 3rd January 2008

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I THOUGHT I had nailed them at last. I was smug with glee last Friday that after 15 years of trying, I was finally going to have a valid complaint against Wycombe's binmen.

But once again, I was wrong because they were flawless and efficient, and this should have come as no surprise.

You see, unlike a lot of other public services in the UK, the refuse collection in High Wycombe is rather good in my experience, and I have come unstuck in the past criticising it.

Many years ago, I arrogantly proclaimed I would eat my column if my bins were collected on schedule every week for a period of time.

I can't recall exactly why I did this, but all I remember is I lost the wager and ended up humiliated as I was forced to pretend to eat a piece of my own newsprint in front of the cameras.

That was roughly 15 years ago, and ever since then, I can't remember an occasion when my dustbin hasn't been emptied on time.

It's astounding really. I have never known a more reliable public service.

I know some readers, unfamiliar with my prose, may accuse me of toadying up to the council. But most of you will realise by now that I am a fervent critic of the local government system, and I rarely pass up an opportunity to highlight its failings.

I wouldn't be surprised if my face adorned a town hall dartboard somewhere, especially since I have often called for the entire system to be dismantled and rebuilt.

However, I cannot fault Wycombe District Council for its bin services. I tried a couple of years ago when the naffly-titled GROW (Get Recycling Organic Waste) project was introduced.

I was horrified we would be forced into using additional bins to recycle green waste, and was alarmed that normal refuse would only be picked up on a fortnightly basis as a result.

But now, even though I have to sift my rubbish into five separate council containers, I am a fan of the scheme. Yes, I have been converted because it actually works.

To make it work, householders have to take the trouble to organise their rubbish into separate piles, one for food and grass cuttings, one for bottles and cans, one for newspapers and one for the rest of the garbage. I have bins for each of these four disciplines plus a fifth one which allows me to transport kitchen waste into the green bin outside.

You can probably guess I am really into it, and I even found myself leaping to the council's defence when one national newspaper attacked the scheme and described High Wycombe as the town where only the rats are happy'.

But for it all to work, the bins have to be emptied on time. And this is why Wycombe's system has been so successful.

However, I thought I had finally found a flaw last Friday when the collection time was moved to two days later as a result of Christmas. I checked the schedule on a council leaflet and ensured my grey bin and bottle container were both in the appropriate place early on Friday.

Sure enough, I heard a bin truck arrive in the morning and was about to lavish praise on the council's punctuality when I discovered the bottle container had been left unemptied, with its contents spilling out on to the road.

I rushed, in a blind fury, to contact the WDC waste department after finding its number on the council website.

Now my experience of public services prepared me for a long frustrating wait on the phone.

Not so. A human - and not a machine - answered within two rings. And what's more, she didn't have to transfer me but immediately answered all my questions.

What I hadn't realised is that there is a separate truck for the bottles and cans, and she assured me this would arrive by late afternoon at the latest.

She was as good as her word, because it arrived long before and emptied the container.

By the way, I never once said I was press so I could have been any old Tom, Dick or Harry.

It proved to me that here is finally a public service that is punctual, reliable, well-organised and efficient on a consistent long-term basis.

So my admiration goes out to the binmen of Wycombe who have never let me down.

And I am also grateful to them for proving that the council is expert in at least one thing - rubbish.