I KNOW we pay for it, as part of our council taxes, but we do take it for granted, don’t we? I’m talking rubbish, of course.

I mean the trash, the unwanted and the unpleasant leftovers collected regularly from our homes to be disposed of on our behalf and never mind what becomes of it, thank you very much, as long as the stinking, rotten, revolting stuff is removed from our presence.

The pink sacks and black sacks, stuffed with all kinds of unwanted and discarded bits and pieces, are collected weekly from outside our homes by squads of men who surely must be incredibly fit and strong.

They run ahead of container lorries, lifting the sacks and heaving them into the gaping jaws of the vehicles’ crushers as they move along our networks of roads.

Older readers may well recall the time when the dustmen, as they were then always known, had to manhandle, then shoulder grotesque, evil-smelling dustbins from back gardens, yards and alleyways, walk to dustcarts and empty the grim contents therein before returning bins to homes.

Times and technology have advanced apace, but the major, massively demanding, challenge of clearing and then dumping unwanted rubbish – of removing and disposing of it – remains for councils and council contractors to deal with.

I choose this topic for discussion because I made my latest, regular visit to Southend’s waste station, off Sutton Road and down by the town’s cemetery and crematorium – which I also happen increasingly to call at to pay respects and say farewells to old friends and colleagues.

I joined a traffic queue there on Monday morning. Immediate postweekend is a particularly busy time there because so many folk have just cleared and tidied and gathered waste to dispose of from gardens or allotments or loft space.

I do not opt to have one of those green wheelie bins for garden waste that disposal men remove on the days of pickups of the plastic sacks.

I actually appreciate taking waste to the tip because, as a stranger once said to me from atop the steps on the opposite side of one of the huge skips, “You meet some interesting and nice people in dumps like this.”

Quite so. This week was particularly special because it was the beginning of the contract of the latest firm to win the bumper contract from Southend Council, named Veolia.

This is a huge, multi-national concern – but what will especially concern Southend Council and those of us taxpayers who depend so very much on being assured that our neighbourhoods won’t be allowed to become dumps, is how well it performs.

Welcome, newcomers.

Southend Council most surely will be keeping tabs on how you do. So will we, the taxpayers. We wish for regular, reliable, efficient, service, thank you.

It had better be good. Otherwise that oft-repeated word uttered by the late, lamented Eric Morecombe when asked “What do you think of it so far?” could ring out loudly and repeatedly: “Rubbish!”