Bin cleaners told DH to fuck off

[Rudeness101]

The neighbours have recently started getting their bins cleaned and the bin cleaner keeps moving our bin to the middle of the driveway creating an obstacle when we return.

DH saw them earlier and went to explain the issue and ask they kindly put the bin back when finished to which the guy told DH to fuck off. DH was taken aback but repeated that he’s having to stop the car in the street to move the bin to then drive in, to which the cleaner again told him to fuck off and started laughing.

His colleagues then joined in calling DH a cunt and the pair of them left laughing. DH wrote an email of complaint to the company but learned they’re a small family owned firm. Therefore quite likely one or both of the men are probably related to the owners.

DH is trying to take the high ground and assume they were having a bad day but that doesn’t solve the problem and inconvenience of the cleaners blocking our driveway. The bin is cleaned the same day they’re emptied so not possible for us to hide the bin away, and the street and properties are small so it’s not like we can leave our bins out elsewhere.

We also don’t know the neighbours well enough to think they’d change companies.

WWYD?

I'm not sure how you got to our age without knowing about this service 🤣. Lots of people seem to just chuck rubbish in their outside bin rather than use bin bags 💁🏻‍♀️ 🤮

Yes @SpringIsSpringing2026 it is mighty annoying. Especially when I work hard to clean my bin and have it smelling as nice as possible, and it's a job I don't like.

Only way to stop it is make sure your bin is full to the brim, and rubbish not all in one bin bag, but in several bags of refuse on top of the bin bag. That way they just open the lid, huff, and put it back down as its too much work to take all of the individual bags out, and no one else's refuse will fit in either. Then your big will be taken to the wagon individually, as it should! Hurray!

I know, I’m clearly a bit uninformed here, I really am a bit surprised.
I’ve never seen it though.

Why would you clean a bin

You "work hard to clean my bin and have it smelling as nice as possible"? Your outdoor bin??

Yep, I don't want maggots. No food waste goes in, that's all composted (though they are just starting food waste collections). It gets disinfected and jet washed every time it's emptied.

Fair enough! Bloody hell though. I've never thought for 1 second about the state of my outdoor bin and the idea of washing it every week, when it's literally a bin, blows my mind. Takes all sorts I guess

I’d be leaving feedback on their Facebook page. And make sure you make your local Facebook page aware too! Basically spread the word!

I don't bother either except for a swill out of the food waste bin with dettol id it's a bit stink.Not sure why maggots would be in wheelie bins as someone said

Why? We've had a wheelie bin cleaner ever since we first had wheelie bins about 30 years ago. I only have the general waste bin done, and once a month (we have fortnightly collections) and it means the bin doesn't get smelly and magotty.
The same guy has done ours for 30 years, and as others have said, he basically follows the bin lorry, and has a fancy van with a water tank and pressure washer inside. And he always puts the bin back where it belongs.

I wonder if this is a geography thing - I live in an inner London suburb and I have never seen it and certainly know that none of my neighbours have such a service either.

Even if you don’t know the neighbours that well, surely you can politely speak to them to tell them what happened? And then they can tell the company it is never to happen again (or get rid of the company)? Unless you are on really bad terms with the neighbours, then I can’t see who wouldn’t speak to them about something like this

No idea. I live in a village in the countryside and I've never heard of or indeed desired a bin cleaning service

I'm in semi rural, outer commuter land.

I'm also short and don't own or need a pressure washer. The one time I needed to clean my wheelie bin myself, I almost fell in it!

I keep the interior of my bin clean in case I need to remove the sacks and take them in the car to the tip. It’s quite easy to keep clean if you only use thick bin bags that don’t rip or leak. I can’t see why a bin would been cleaning so often. Surely it would be far cheaper to buy good bin liners that dont
male a mess in the first place. If OP’s neighbours use crap bags or put stuff like unbagged nappies or bagged dog shit or whatever im there, I can see that it might smell.

Surely you can inform your neighbours of this, and ask them to instruct their bin cleaners to do what is sensible and you would prefer. Surely you can tell them they called your husband a cunt (on his birthday) when he made a polite request. Just because you don't think they'll change cleaners doesn't mean you cannot express what has happened and what you would like to happen.

I have 4 bins. 3 of them are collected every 3 weeks. The food/ garden waste is collected every 2 weeks and can get smelly. In summer we often get maggots in that one despite double bagging the food waste in compostible bags. Garden waste isn't bagged. Our bin cleaners come every 2 weeks when the 2 bins are out so the garden waste plus 1 of the others gets cleaned.

Obvious solution is to speak to your neighbours and explain what’s happened, if they have any decency they’ll find a new bin cleaner.

Outdoor bins stink and attract flies and then maggot’s. I rinse mine 2/3 a year since the bin cleaning guys stop coming in.
It’s a lucrative business if you don’t mind the smell. Most homes used the service.
10 euro first deep clean, 4 euro weekly afterwards.

Just put the bins somewhere else on that morning. Round the back or up the side etc? Or closer to your doorway.

This.

Why? Very common these days.

It seems odd that he was spoken to like that if he was so polite.

I'd be leaving bad review of their business on as many platforms as possible out of spite!

If it’s a small family firm, how many review sites will it be on?

Something feels off - if someone speaks to them politely about moving the bin, would they really tell him to fuck off and call him a cunt?