Thursday 15 April 2010

Non-Jobsworth Syndrome?

Here we are at Marsworth junction.  On arrival we moored up and went looking for the facilities at the BW service point. The British Waterways (BW) office is in the background, BW staff drive past or walk past this scene each day.
Biffa will only empty the bins so all these bottles etc. that have accumulated due to 'unforeseen circumstances' look to be here for the duration.... unless someone picks them up and puts them in the bins that is.  Having two dogs in tow I gave that a miss but when I took our rubbish down to the Biffa bin at the next bridge I found...
and..

(Surely shot gun cartridges are not boaty rubbish?)   So I did this...
I cleaned it all up as best I could.  My only reservation was finding that I was sharing my task with a rodent, ratus, ratus YUK!! 
Clearly the bin emptying is not frequent enough or there are insufficient bins for the amount of boaters. This strikes me as an outbreak of non-jobsworth syndrome; It's not my job to keep this clean say, Biffa/BW/Boaters so we will leave it to the rats.  One wonders how often the BW manager for these parts inspects his/her domain; perhaps not frequently enough eh?

7 comments:

Carol said...

Hi Lesley, we've been through Marsworth on several occasions and these refuse sites have always been overflowing - and yes it does make you wonder how often BW management check on properties and services in their area.
Carol - Rock n Roll

Sparkle Shirley said...

The fact that a lot of people (boaters?) have ignored the request to take their glass for recycling to the bins in the White Lion car park hardly seems to be a BW manager’s fault.

Nb Yarwood said...

Hi Sparkle Shirley
You are spot on in saying that individuals who ignore BW instructions to walk to the next bridge to deposit glass bottles have contributed to the build-up of empty bottles problem here. However, it IS a BW facility and, BW management ARE responsible for managing it surely?
Lesley

Nb Yarwood said...

Hi Carol
It does look an eyesore does it not?
Lesley

Robert Salnick said...

North of Seattle, in the San Juan Islands (many of which are Marine Parks), the State Department of Fish and Wildlife (fills the same role in this respect as BW, I think) used to do garbage pickup. It was always a kind of sad commentary to me to see the little scows motoring about, heaped up to overflowing with bags of garbage.

Well, no more. Now it is "Pack it in, pack it out". Surprisingly, I find that the islands are cleaner now than they were before.

Managing garbage on a boat is always a difficulty. Most marinas in the San Juans will now take your garbage, for a fee. I think this is perhaps a better model. The fee is charged directly to the user, instead of being diluted across the entire State's population - a method that increases costs to everyone yet conversely makes the garbage pickup seem to be free.

bob
s/v Eolian
Seattle

Dogsontour by Greygal said...

Flippin' eck, one whiff of a rat and I'd have been off...well done you. Now my kitchen is in a bit of a state and could do with a good tidy..

Les Biggs said...

Re-cycling bins at Cow Roast lock.