IT’S TIME TO STOP THE TRASH TALK

DAWN Crichlow was typically straight to the point in lining up residents whingeing about when their council rubbish bins will be collected during the Commonwealth Games.

“They should put a lid on it. Big deal. It is a bit of an inconvenience,” the veteran councillor scoffed at the reaction from some ratepayers that 2am collections will wake up children and animals.

She is right.

Councillors voted for the collection changes to ease traffic congestion, for security reasons and to help with waste services during the Games.

The question must be asked of those unhappy residents, if not 2am to get trucks off the road during the busiest period of the city’s history, then when?

Do they want the status quo pick-up time and run the risk of bins still being full well into the afternoon because council trucks cannot navigate the traffic? Or maybe they put their rubbish in the garage for a month to stop any hassle altogether.

The Commonwealth Games will be the greatest event held on the Gold Coast, attracting thousands of visitors and 1.5 billion more viewers. It will put this city on the map.

With a celebration of this magnitude, however, come inconveniences and compromises. One of those is council bins being collected at a different time. As Games officials yesterday urged residents, “embrace the chaos”.

Christmas is coming. We shouldn’t be booing Santa Claus because of a change to the rubbish bin timetable.