Bin men ‘left without basic protection’ are terrified they will catch coronavirus

Bin men across the UK say they are terrified they will catch coronavirus as they haven’t been provided with basic protective equipment.

Refuse collectors face mounting piles of waste left behind as fresh goods get panic bought then thrown away, but claim they haven’t even been given sanitiser.

Rubbish could soon pile up in Britain’s streets as 30 per cent of the work force is off sick.

Workers also say social distancing is impossible in a refuse lorry.

“The biggest problem we’ve had is social distancing – trying to keep two metres apart,” one bin man told The Daily Star.

“When you’re a bin man you tend to sit in the wagon with three guys, so ­obviously you can’t have a two- metre gap.”

Shoppers who stockpiled fresh food have dumped much of their hoard after it went out of date (Twitter)

The worker, from the East Midlands, says their requests of face masks have been rejected.

Worryingly, he claims they often see used tissues at the top of bins.

Councils across the country have scaled back household bin collections and many recycling centres have closed in the wake of the pandemic.

Another bin man described the difficulty as they face mountains of extra rubbish.

He said: “Our problem is the public at home, online shopping and panic buying. With staff shortages and extra waste we are very stretched.”

People have been left outraged after overflowing bins were spotted in Derby (Twitter)

Loaves of bread, bunches of bananas and unopened packs of chicken products were spotted (Twitter)

Stuart Richards, of the GMB union, added: “Our members working on the bins are key workers. The least they can expect is for their employers to take some responsibility and put adequate measures in place to keep them safe.”

Earlier this week, a national business waste company warned that panic buying will result in an increased amount of food being thrown away.

Mark Hall, of Business Waste, said: “At the moment there is a huge strain on supermarket supply chains to ensure there is enough food to go around during these difficult times.

“People should only buy what they need, otherwise they will only be throwing a lot of it away when it all goes out of date. There’s only so much you can eat.”

Many shops have now imposed limits on how many items you can buy after shelves were stripped empty because of panic buying.

Bin collection bosses said they had brought in as many safety measures as possible, but admitted they were struggling to get hold of sanitiser.

Richard Kirkman from Veolia, the UK’s largest waste collection contractor, said they were doing “everything in our power to get more protective equipment”.

He added: “Safety has ­always been – and particularly now – our number one priority.”