Amsterdam garbage collectors are going on strike for one week from Monday in order to enforce a better collective labor agreement and wage increase. But not collecting garbage for a week in a city like Amsterdam, where it is already crawling with vermin, is that a good idea? “It will be chaos,” thinks Richello Guman of First Aid for Animal Plagues.
It’s no secret that Amsterdam is crawling with vermin. For example, at the underground waste containers in the Amsterdam K-neighbourhood it is regularly a big mess with torn open garbage bags full of food scraps and that attracts all kinds of vermin.
Now that no waste has been collected for a week, according to Richello, it is becoming a big mess. “Many people are already afraid of vermin and the moment a lot of garbage remains on the street, birds will come and vermin.” This in turn causes problems with pests in people’s homes.
Beastly lot
“It will be one beast in Amsterdam.” The effect of this action will last longer than a week. “It might look neat at first after a week, but the rat population will continue to grow because of this,” Richello explains. If there is suddenly a lot of food available in the streets of Amsterdam, the rats will become comfortable with this and this will become a problem for the longer term.
Perhaps a good trade for the pest controller, but Richello is anything but happy. “Many people think they can solve it themselves, but there are also people who cannot afford this themselves. It is not good for health at all.”
What can you do yourself?
You can, of course, hire a pest controller. But according to Richello it is already very smart to close holes and cracks in your home. The best tip for the Amsterdammers for the coming week is: “Keep your garbage inside as long as possible.”