Could you help advise me about the new waste collections?
I am a visual thinker and learn and have already had to change the routine I’ve had for 11 years.
I bought a private wheelie bin from Penryn Plastics, which my neighbours have shared as I fill about one 50L bag a week and everything else is recycled. I take batteries and thin plastics to collection points at supermarkets.
Yesterday I discovered the hard way without any communication or explanation that they are not being emptied. I put my full bin out (it was not emptied 2 weeks ago) and it was not emptied with a note to tell me to use a black canvas bag instead.
My is a wind tunnel and the new plastic bins are much less sturdy then my private wheelie bin. There is no inconceivable reason it is not emptied (wheelie bins were invented originally to be emptied by mechanical arms on the back of the lorries) and I have not been contacted about the fate of my private bin, which is shared by neighbours and therefore economical and reducing plastic and landfill.
In 2025 I am finding life getting increasingly littered with unexplained regulations. This is particularly hard for people with cognitive diversity (I have dyspraxia or, put simply, I process visually, need routines and have to focus on one thing at a time) and more and more is dictated to us in written word without videos, pictures or diagrams. Pictures that are used are these close-ups that are either speechless or say the minimum words. 1,000 word pictures are dying with natural, creative human processing and related imaginative abilities. Rote education and screen time are eroding human imagination.
Therefore the public are not being involved in decision making or to help reduce carbon or reduce the environmental impact. We are told we can’t drive that vehicle and we can’t go there but not given information about what replaces our transport and how to fuel it or afford it. We are issued with bins or bags without consideration of wind or seagulls despite a routine being followed for over a decade, to be suddenly changed, requiring concentration, focus and right now I cannot throw any rubbish out following a month long virus, which is a health impact.
We the public are more literate and increasingly connected to potential sources of information than ever before and yet we are totally excluded from rule making. Opinions are stated as fact, which means there is no longer one truth, which divides people behind chosen beliefs instead of tangible evidence. Rather than being led by politicians we are being ruled and getting ever more costs to living, charges, taxes, food and energy prices and are not consulted on what is best for us or our families or to find diverse solutions for issues we face in health, education, housing, employment, travel, resources (such as libraries) and tackling an ever increasing requirement for new smartphones, computers and space for apps and hundreds of different logins.
This means that a small section of society is being catered for (essentially men in their 20s) and the very young, elderly, disabled, visual thinking, female, non-conformist or technophobes are being excluded from employment and decisions governing our lives. Women are being dictated what to wear by the narrow stock available in clothes shops; uncomfortable, ugly swimwear and 1950s flowery dresses or short and skirts designed for the male gaze. There seems to be increasing government overreach and high level-decisions made, which do not benefit the general public and do not resound with what seems to be the best for people, small to medium sized and micro businesses or the environment. Everyday tasks are made harder, increasingly time, focus and energy consuming, routines discarded. Many people are becoming ever more overwhelmed and stressed to perform regular tasks such as ordering a repeat prescription or putting out household rubbish.
When the UK still allowed its population to have autonomy, access to information, free speech and health choices in 1991, I went to Los Angeles and found life was heavily policed. As a law-abiding citizen I got in trouble with the police twice in 3 months, which I had never done in my life before. I got a jay-walking fine for crossing a backstreet on my last day. I wasn’t allowed to pay the $10 fine that day due to regulations and was told if I didn’t pay it I would be arrested at the airport if I came back. I had to pay it by postal order from a village shop in Surrey and never received a receipt.
In a connected and literate world we do not need to feel like school children being told what to do without being told why or without being given information. As a child in the 1970s I was informed about polio before being given the vaccine. There was no question the vaccine was needed. As primary school children we were also informed about German Measles (the risk of a child being born with Rubella Syndrome if the mother catches it while pregnant) and Tubercullosis.
It would be wonderful if Falmouth and Cornwall councillors could start communicating with residents to find out what our priorities are, what could most benefit the community, how we could contribute or participate in community interests and what urgently needs attention. We could be invited to discussions and volunteer identified actions instead of just following orders from Westminster, which aren’t thought out from our point of view of regular citizens or in our benefit at all.
Dairy of A Nonny Moose 