I think that I’ve mentioned before how impressed I’ve been with the bin men here in Portugal. If that’s the case then I apologise, because I’m going to do so again.
On every corner there are bins – for glass, for plastic and metal, for cardboard, for general waste. At least, this is the case where I am.
And these bins are emptied daily.
In Olhao, the bin men even drive past my house each night and pick up the rubbish from outside my front door! Not Saturday nights though – I suppose that I can let them off one night a week.
Anyway, as you might have gathered, I’ve been really impressed with the service offered for ridiculously cheap council tax. I won’t go into details but I used to pay more in a month back in the UK than I have done here for a whole year… madness.
But I’ve always tried not to take the piss.
I’ve been told that whatever you leave out for the refuse collectors they have to collect.
I made a decision early doors not to abuse this, and once I found the tip (the ‘Ecocentro’) in Olhao, life was easy. Anything big I needed to throw away I took there.
Then Neil asked me if I could help him dispose of an old mattress.
Not a problem I said, but I couldn’t do it right away. Monday maybe?
No rush, was Neil’s response.
And so we left it at that.
But then, as luck would have it, I wandered up to Ponte Grand that night for a kebab (the best kebab you’ve ever had plus a beer for €5 – you can’t bloody beat it!), and was nearly home again when I saw the lady just up the road from me step out of her house.
It was dark, but I know what I saw. There she was dragging a mattress out of her front door.
I made a decision, and I offered her a hand. She laughed and thanked me, but no, and she proceeded to drag the mattress down the street.
I watched her head towards the bins.
I unlocked my front door and went in. I didn’t want to follow her, but I knew I was probably going to go out and check in a few minutes – and that’s what I did.
I waited and shortly after, I headed back out again. I took my rubbish bag with me as cover and wandered down to the bins to drop it off. There, right in front of me was the mattress.
Mmmm… maybe Neil could dump his mattress down here and save us a trip to the tip?
When I got back, I texted him.
“Just seen a mattress dumped by the bins. I’ll check tomorrow whether it’s gone.”
And I did – and do you know what? It had only bloody been taken away!
However, in my excitement, I forgot to inform Neil. A couple of days later he texted me:
“Did it go?”
“Did what go?”
“The mattress!”
“Bloody hell! Sorry! I forgot! Yes it did!”
“OK, but maybe we should still take it to the tip?”
“OK – if you want to we can do that. Let me know.”
And we left it at that.
Later that evening I was sat in my lounge, half writing, half watching TV, when I heard a loud ‘trundling’ noise going past my front door.
What the bloody hell was that?!
My front door is like a stable door, so I stood up and opened the top half.
I stuck my head out and what did I see?
It was the same lady, the mattress lady, but she wasn’t taking a mattress down to the bins this time. No, this time she was taking a whole bloody divan base! One of the ones that opens up and offers storage! The storage door (the top of the divan) was open wide, and the lady was dragging it with all her might towards the bins.
As I was about to go out and offer my assistance once again, a guy approached her, someone who obviously knew her. He laughed and gave her a hand.
I closed the door. Then I did the same as the other night – after waiting a few minutes, I wandered down to the bins to check, and there it was: a bloody great divan base!
I then followed this up the next morning and – oh yes! – the bin men had only bloody gone and collected it!
This place is amazing.
In the UK you hear stories of bin men refusing to take a bin – a bin that they only collect once every two weeks – because it’s too full.
Here the bin men pick up anything that’s left near the public bins. The attitude is so different.
Shortly after this episode, I went round to my house in Olhao and Vitor asked me how he was going to get rid of the old fridge and freezer that he’d removed from my redundant kitchen.
I suggested that we just stick them in the back of my van and we take them to the tip.
He said: “OK, tomorrow we do that!”
So I went back the next day and the fridge and freezer were nowhere to be seen.
“Where are they, Vitor?”
“They were taken last night. I asked the electricians and they said that I should just leave them outside, so I did – and they’re gone!”
Vitor has been living here for 20 years and even he’s amazed by the efficiency of the bin people.
All I can say is that in Portugal there is always something to surprise you. The efficiency of the bin men is one of those things!
And long may it continue!