vermin – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Bins Strike: Politicians play the Blame Game while punters wade through mounting rubbish

TALKS to resolve the local government workers strike ended without an agreement being reached yesterday.

Unions had sought clarity over a 5% offer tabled at a meeting with local government organisation Cosla but the employers were unable to give sufficient reassurances to enable unions to call off planned strikes across the country.

This means the ongoing strike in Edinburgh will continue, with other council areas also being hit by industrial action for the first time today.

Edinburgh North and Leith SNP MP Deirdre Brock said the capital’s Labour-run council had failed to put forward a decent pay offer.

Edinburgh council’s Labour leader Cammy Day was criticised last week for offering just 3.5% to council workers while other council leaders were pushing for a 5% pay rise for their workers.

Ms Brock said: “The SNP in government put an extra £140m on the table, on top of the £100m extra given to councils earlier in the year, yet Labour refused to offer that money to refuse workers for over a week, leaving our capital streets an eyesore.

“Residents and tourists alike need to see a plan from Labour to clean up the capital starting today. All we’ve seen so far is ineptitude.”

Her Edinburgh SNP colleague Angus Robertson MSP weighed in:

The Labour administration in Edinburgh is propped up by the Scottish Conservatives and the Lib Dems, but the Tory Local Government spokesperson Miles Briggs MSP had a go at both the Labour-led council and the SNP Holyrood government:

Lamenting the city council’s ‘astounding’ lack of contingency planning – trade unions have made their plans very clear in the run-up to the strike – Lothians list MSP Miles Briggs said: “More could have been done to prepare the city, such as working with private companies or providing additional bins.

“The SNP government must get around the table and fix this before it’s too late. They cannot stand by and watch while a situation that they created by giving councils a poor funding settlement spirals out of control.”

Scotish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole Hamilton lays the blame squarely on the Scottish Government:

“Think of the white elephants the SNP has splurged cash on: independence, the ferries debacle, the embassies so they can play ‘dress-up diplomat’. All of this could have gone to councils to allow them to settle these very reasonable pay expectations.”

Talking of white elephants, our cash-strapped city council chose yesterday to announce £1 BILLION plans for a new North-South tram line … but that’s another story!

Responding to the Edinburgh refuse workers’ industrial action, Labour Lothian list MSP Foysul Choudhury said: “SNP representatives should get off their high horse about the ongoing industrial action when they should have been canvassing their own party in the Scottish Government to agree extra cash with COSLA for councils to pay workers a fair wage, rather than expecting Edinburgh City Council to cut services elsewhere.

“It is up to the Scottish Government and COSLA to agree further funding, and then up to COSLA and the unions to agree the terms of any new pay deal, not Edinburgh City Council. As a former City Councillor, Deidre Brock knows this and yet has pretended otherwise in the media.

“Nobody wants to see the streets of Edinburgh in their current state, but the ongoing industrial action shows what a crucial job refuse and recycling workers do and demonstrates why we should be paying them fairly for their work.

“At the same time it is ridiculous for SNP representatives to lay the strike at the hands of a Labour-led council when it is their party which has repeatedly slashed local government budgets in real terms, forcing councils to cut their services to the bone.

“If the SNP really wanted to avoid these strikes rather than play politics, they should have come to an agreement with COSLA sooner, or better still, avoided imposing successive years of painful austerity for local authorities across Scotland.”

UNITE City of Edinburgh Branch pointed out: “Misinformation on #edinburghbinstrikes today is rife. Strike is a national dispute—one council can’t stop it. 14 more councils tomorrow.

“Local government funding has been slashed for a decade. Idea that 5% definitely would have stopped this is a fantasy. An insulting one at that.”

STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer is backing the striking unions. In a tweet yesterday, Ms Foyer said: “Solidarity to all of you. Keep fighting!

“All Scotland’s local government workers deserve a decent pay rise for the vital work you do. Let’s show our support on the picket lines across Scotland tomorrow.”

PLANNED INDUSTRIAL ACTION:

Unison

School and early years workers will strike on 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September, joining UNISON waste and recycling staff who will have already started their strike action on 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August and 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September.

Unite

Strikes will be held between the 18th August – 30th in Edinburgh with a second wave expected in a further 14 local authorities this week.

Aberdeen City, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

Unite Campaign Page

Unison

In the first wave of action cleansing workers will strike in Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Stirling and South Lanarkshire councils for the first wave of strike action to take place on 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August and 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September.

Unison Campaign Page

GMB

Cleansing workers will strike in Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Stirling and South Lanarkshire councils for the first wave of strike action to take place on 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th August and 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th September.

City of Edinburgh Council: Disruption to Waste Services

We appreciate the impact and inconvenience this will cause you and appreciate your understanding. Please help us to keep the city as clean and safe as possible during the strike by following this guidance:

Regularly check our website and Twitter account for updates on services suspended and when collections will restart in your area. Be aware normal collections may take a while to get back to schedule after the strike ends.
Don’t put any bins, boxes or bags out for collection until the situation changes.
Stock up on strong black bags, and be prepared to fill, seal and store these with extra waste.
When separating your recycling, please try to flatten all cardboard and crush drinks cans and bottles. You can bag these up, separated, to empty into the recycling bin when you can.
Store waste sensibly and safely. If possible, use and share empty garage space with your neighbours or store bags in your garden or driveway.
Don’t store waste in stairwells or landings, where it could become a fire hazard.
Be careful not to block bin chutes or overfill them.
Keep all food waste separate and in an enclosed container, to help prevent smells attracting wildlife.
Talk to your neighbours and share responsibility for keeping spillages to a minimum. Help neighbours who may need support managing their waste. Explain the situation to those who may not have heard.
Please do not leave bags or any bulky items next to full bins. These will not get cleared away and could become a hazard.
Join with neighbours to do local litter picking clean ups, especially around on-street bins and litter bins on your street.
If a bin is full to overflowing, don’t use it, particularly for dog fouling. Please either use a bin that’s not full or take it home and double bag it to reduce smells.

Report a waste emergency

If you need to report an emergency issue where waste is causing injury or hazard call us and listen to select an option carefully. Phone 0131 608 1100, from Monday -Thursday 1000-1600 and Friday 1000-1500. After these hours, phone 0131 200 2000.

You can also email waste@edinburgh.gov.uk with the specific location and details of the issue.

Ratty Mondays: Why bin men dread the first day of the working week

Do you hate going to work on a Monday? Spare a thought for refuse collectors who dread Monday mornings as their rounds bring them in direct contact with Britain’s surging rat population.

That’s because they’re coming up against overfilled commercial and domestic bins that rats have had a chance to ransack for food, says a national waste and recycling company.

And with the British rat population increasing by 25% over the Covid pandemic, there’s some truth in the old urban myth that you’re never more than six feet away from a rat, says waste collection company BusinessWaste.co.uk

BusinessWaste.co.uk spokesperson Mark Hall said: “Our operators come up against rats on a daily basis,” “but Mondays are especially bad and our teams are genuinely worried about getting bitten.”

What’s the problem?

Binmen (and women) have struggled with vermin since time immemorial, but the Covid pandemic and milder winters have allowed an explosion in the rat population.

Estimates put the number of rats in the UK at around 150 million, and they’re attracted to wherever humans leave them a steady supply of food. And that means bins.

And, according to refuse collectors, the worst day of the week is always a Monday, because the hungry rodents have had the chance to settle down relatively undisturbed over the weekend in overfilled bins.

“When we go to empty a bin on a Monday, there’s a stream of rats running to safety,” Mark Taylor 44 refuse collector from Addingham told us.

“It’s really bad if it’s a food store or a restaurant, and they haven’t secured the lid. We’re clubbing the bins with a big stick, then giving them a couple of minutes to run away. It’s terrifying.”

We’ve seen videos of rats fleeing commercial bins as if it’s a sinking ship, and it’s not a pleasant experience for anybody involved.

There’s also the chance of a bin man getting bitten.

“Once disturbed, the vermin are in a state of panic and run in all directions,” says Waste collection company Divert.co.uk’s Operations Director Adam Bailey, “Our teams now go into action with trousers tucked into boots and sleeve cuffs done up tight. But that’s still no guarantee.”

Another veteran operator tells BusinessWaste.co.uk that the problem is worse than ever. “We’re seeing more rats and other vermin than ever before, hundreds of them. And they’re bolder, too.”

Ratty Monday to Fear-filled Furry Fridays – there’s no escape for Britain’s bin men.

Is there a solution?

While it may be difficult to put an end to Ratty Mondays and Terrifying Tuesdays (if Ratty Monday is a Bank Holiday*), Business Waste’s Mark Hall says that there are plenty of things that people can do to deter vermin.

“The number one thing owners can do is secure the lids on their bins,” he says, “And the number two thing is not to overfill them”.

Bin operators approach open and overflowing bins with a sense of dread, knowing that it’s inevitable that there’ll be a fury explosion of angry and frightened rats the moment they move the bin.

For most domestic bins, it’s not really a problem. But for commercial bin owners, the sheer volume of food waste means that bin management is essential to deter vermin.

“That means people who run restaurants, food shops, pubs – anywhere that produces tasty, tasty food waste – needs to lock down their bins every time they use them,” says Hall.

It’s a basic safety measure for which there should be no exceptions, and something local authorities should clamp down on with local byelaws, he says.

“They say that if you’re in a big city, you’re never more than six feet away from a rat,” says Mark Hall of BusinessWaste.co.uk

“While that’s been an urban myth for years, it’s coming more and more of a reality, and it’s a problem of our own making.”

*Other days of the week are available, but they’re ratty too!

Fruit flies, fleas and bedbugs: the top three pests we’re searching the internet to remove

Fruit flies top the list of Britain’s most troublesome pests as new research reveals the top infestations we’re trying to get rid of

Fleas are in second and bedbugs are third in skin crawling analysis of Google search data

A new study has found that the UK’s most Googled pest problem is fruit flies. The tiny fly tops the list for the most searched pest at the end of the phrase ‘how to get rid of … ‘

The research by experts 24/7 Pest Control found that other popular – or rather unpopular – searches are fleas in second, bed bugs in third and rats in fourth.

Fifth place belongs to mice, while perennial picnic ruiner the wasp is in fifth. Ants take seventh place, flies are in eighth, silverfish are ninth and moles are the tenth most searched pest.

Although arachnophobia is a common fear, searches for “how to get rid of spiders” rank outside the top ten in 11^th position.

Searches for how to eradicate fruit flies total more than 19,000 on average each month. “How to get rid of fleas” is searched an average of just over 16,000 times each month, while advice on bed bugs receives a similar number.

The study also analysed search trends, finding that searches for how to get rid of fruit flies spike each year in August, and in 2020 the phrase received its highest ever number of searches.

Fruit flies are especially common toward the end of summer because they are attracted to ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables, making foods like bananas, potatoes and onions, which are often unrefrigerated, a key source of contamination.

Fleas provoke a similar late-summer spike with searches at their highest in August and September.

“How to get rid of bed bugs” doesn’t follow such a clear pattern, however April 2020, just as the UK’s first national lockdown had begun, saw the highest ever number of searches for the phrase.

Commenting on the results, a spokesperson for 24/7 Pest Control said: “These results show that a pest doesn’t need to be big to cause problems. Fleas and bedbugs can be particularly difficult to get rid of, so the infestation can eat away at you in more ways than one.

“Although people might feel embarrassed about their pest problems, the volume of monthly searches shows that they’re very common across the country.”

Globally the biggest pest problem that people are hoping to eradicate is flies, followed by rats, with mice in third, while ants are in fourth and bed bugs are fifth.

The research was carried out by 24/7 Pest Control, which aims to provide effective pest control services and make them as easily available as possible.

The UK’s most Googled pest problems, ranked by monthly average number of searches

fruit flies – 19,100
fleas – 16,300
bed bugs – 16,100
rats – 13,000
mice – 12,200
wasps – 11,000
ants – 10,300
flies – 8,100
silverfish – 6,400
moles – 6,000

www.247pestcontrol.co.uk

Council cuts could send rat populations spiralling out of control

A jump of 25% in the rat population during 2020 has increased the pest control workload in most areas of the UK, as rats migrate from city centre commercial areas to inner city residential – increasing reports from worried residents about rat sightings.

Reports of rats being seen in open public areas during lockdown are common, with Council pest control departments being sent an increasing number of reports of rats in inner city residential areas as rats migrate in the search for food and shelter.

“Lockdown is presenting a serious challenge for pest controllers, none more so than where financial cuts and social distancing is hampering Local Authority departments in their ability to tackle rat populations. This is not only a funding issue – the population of rats is growing, and the ability to control them with traditional means is decreasing as 74% of UK rats have been shown to carry immunity to popular poisons”, explains Jenny Rathbone of Pest Controller Pest.co.uk

Areas such as Bridgend where Councillor Nicole Burnett, cabinet member for social services and early help reported: “There does seem to be an increase in the rat population in residential areas, particularly residential areas close to town centres.” They have seen an increase of 47% in the reports of rat problems since 2016.

Cardiff is suffering a similar problem, Gill Lewis from Caerphilly County Borough Council stated: “there has been a significant increase in pest control requests since March 2020 because “more people are at home and seeing more pest activity than they usually would”.

“The big problem we face is that residents of more deprived inner-city areas tend to use Local Authority services to treat rodent problems, and it’s these areas rats are moving to during lockdown – any cuts to services will end up impacting the poorest the hardest – and we all know cuts are coming”, Rathbone adds.

UK Rat Population grew 25% last year (Source Pest.co.uk)

2019 – 120m
2020 – 150m

The issues currently affecting the control of the rat population in the UK are:

The first lockdown in March 2020 allowed rats to get a foothold, and breed well. The population increased 25% in 2020 from 120 million to 150 million.
Traditional pest control methods are becoming ineffective as the 2019-20 Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use survey of rats showed that 74% of rats in the UK carried a resistance gene to popular rodenticides, and even more worrying in some locations in the UK, 20% have two different genes, making them super resistant (Source)
Pressure on Local Authority Pest Control departments to provide more services, with ever increasing strain on finances.

Pest.co.uk is advising anyone living in inner-city urban areas to take proactive measures before problems start, these include:

Block up holes – Fill any gaps in brickwork, shed doors and any holes on external walls of your home including cellars and attics
Clear cupboards – Empty unused cupboards of bags, clothes, rags and keep them clean
Secure all food sources – Make sure food is not left out, tidy away any open food sources and keep worktops and floors clean of crumbs
Prepare traps – by leaving out rat traps you can pre-empt any future infestation, however it is better to bait with official rat poison than leaving food scraps out

“2021 could be interesting. The longer the lockdown continues, the higher the risk that rats get a real foothold that will be hard to control come summer”, concludes Jenny Rathbone of Pest Controller Pest.co.uk

Starving rats feast on discarded Christmas leftovers

Pest controllers are issuing a stark warning to householders to be more careful with Christmas leftovers, after a surge in rat problems caused by a “perfect storm” of carelessly discarded Christmas food waste, cold weather and the skyrocketing population of rats this year.

“The problems are huge – the rat population going into Winter was 25% higher than last year, and we are entering a cold period – rats are moving around trying to find food and shelter – many are attacking domestic bins, and anyone being careless about their Christmas rubbish will pay the price”, explains Jenny Rathbone from Pest.co.uk

Most homes produce large quantities of food waste over Christmas and with less frequent waste collections – bins are overflowing. The advice is to avoid placing any food waste outside of a secure bin. The warning is even extended to cardboard and wrapping paper, which make perfect bedding materials for rats seeking shelter.

2020 has been a bumper year for rats – with the UK population up 25% caused by lockdowns, vacant commercial property, and poor waste management. However, many rats are now being forced to move towards residential areas are commercial food sources are drying up.

The other worrying news is that 74% of rats now carry a “hybrid-resistance” to common pest control poisons – which could mean next year rat infestations are harder (or more expensive) to control.

The recent 2019-20 Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use survey of rats showed that three-quarters of rats in the UK carried a resistance gene to popular rodenticides, and even more worrying in some locations in the UK, 20% have two different genes, making them super resistant.

“More and more people are seeing rats in the open – this is a sign that numbers are very high. We are heading for a cold snap, and rats are busy raiding food sources and bedding down – calls for infestations are already increasing”, says Rathbone.

Pest.co.uk is issuing the following advice to anyone worried about rats over the Christmas and New Year break:

Do not leave any food waste unprotected – Any excess rubbish containing food of any sort should be kept secure, do not leave any bags anywhere outside of a bin, especially Christmas dinner leftovers
Consider placing a brick or heavy object on top of your wheelie bin
Keep all areas of your home clean and tidy
Block up any gaps or holes in brickwork
Remove cardboard and wrapping paper – these are idea bedding materials for rodents

“The advice is really simple – do not leave any Christmas waste in the open or outside a secured bin.

“Do not, under any circumstances, leave any Christmas food waste inside your home – as the rat threat level is currently extremely high”, warns Jenny Rathbone from Pest.co.uk