THAT'S A RELIEF

Thanks, North Lincolnshire Council, for ensuring Brigg does not miss out on refuse collections over Christmas. OK, we pay our council tax and shouldn't really expect less than full value for our money (£1,000-plus a year in most cases). But this IS the season of goodwill to all men...and women...including our friends at Hewson House!
Some of us cynics were fearing the worst with unemptied bins and frequent trips by car to the skip site at Broughton. We could all do without that, given the amount of other things to think about during the festive season.
Brigg's collection details are:
Tomorrow (Tuesday, December 18): Paper (blue box), general waste (black/light green bin), glass/cans (green box).
Saturday, December 22: Plastic/cardboard (red bin)
Saturday, December 29: General waste.
Saturday, January 5: Paper, glass/cans
Tuesday, January 8: General waste, plastics/cardboard.
You will note there's no brown bin collection over the Christmas and New Year period. Given the fact there's nothing growing in the gardens at this time of year, perhaps not a great loss to most households who only put potato peelings and tea bags into their brown bins.
There has been a lot of ill-feeling between Brigg householders and the council over festive and other bank holidays collections in the past. Something now, it seems, tossed firmly into the dustbin of history.
Yes, although Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday this year - Brigg's usual collection day - the council has re-organised things so we will not have to miss an extra week. There will be a special collection of general household waste (your black or possibly light green bin) on Saturday, December 29.
So don't forget to put yours out on the street!
Prior to 1996 when North Lincolnshire Council came into being, the old Glanford Borough authority used to empty bins on a Saturday near to bank holidays. However, it took the new council some years to get this system into action. And there were howls of protest from Brigg households which kept missing out on bank holidays, when Monday was our collection day.
North Lincolnshire Council says Brigg households can access the collection day information (including recycling) by looking at the stickers put on their bins and boxes. It also points out Brigg folk can find what they need to know in the current issue of the council's magazine, Direct.
Unfortunately, as regular readers of this Blog will know, the council dustcart 'ate' our household's black bin some weeks ago. And although they eventually provided a light green (and larger) replacement, it did not have a sticker on it explaining about bank holiday collections. Mrs Fisher is also adamant we have not had the latest issue of Direct delivered to us.
Efforts to gain information about Brigg festive collections from the council's public relations department eventually brought a response similar to that given by the Prime Minister at Question Time in the House of Commons. The PM tells MPs: "I would refer you to my earlier answer." The council PR department says it would refer Brigg people to the stickers on bins and the article in Direct magazine.
However, a colleague at the Scunthorpe Telegraph soon confirmed things for me by visiting the council's own website and locating an extremely helpful section which allows a householder to key in his, or her, postcode and access collection details for their home.
As a respected reader of Brigg Blog, we are happy to share this information with you. It looks a little daunting but just highlight what appears below and copy the string of letters and numbers into the Address box at the top of your internet browser. Next, simply click on Search or Go.
Well worth adding to your favourites/bookmarks for future bank holiday reference.

http://www.northlincs.gov.uk/northlincs/Mayrise/BinCollectionDay.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=%2fNorthLincs%2fEnvironment%2frecycling%2fBinCollectionDays%2ehtm&NRNODEGUID=%7bB0E36A1C-DBDC-445A-A43A-4137395FC1A1%7d&NRCACHEHINT=Guest