Birdhaven residents are up in arms about vagrants searching their bins for recyclable waste.
Perhaps the suburbanites concerned about their leafy streets should consider what these men and women do.
They separate and recycle what homeowners mix together and throw out, mostly plastic containers that clog up landfills around the country.
These vagrants provide a valuable environmental service.
By selling this waste, they manage to eke out a living, rather than doing crime. Rather than seeing them as an enemy, could we make their lives a little easier?
Why not place your recyclables in a separate bag or container alongside your bin, so the pickers would not have to dig into a weeks worth of smelly refuse?
It could be a win-win situation.
Informal collectors would get something to sell, and we would get the satisfaction of helping our fellow brothers and sisters, and a gold star for helping to save the city and the planet from our own waste.
