Rubbish bins in Copenhagen are misused as toilets

The 3,500 dustbins in Copenhagen’s streets are constantly being misused as public toilets.

This poses a significant health hazard for those who handle the waste, reports Danish TV 2 Kosmopol.

In a new report, according to the news channel, it appears that the bins are overflowing with faeces, nappies and vomit.

This constitutes a health hazard for the employees’ health, according to employees in the municipality of Copenhagen.

Breathe it in

In 2023, Copenhagen Municipality received two orders from the Danish Labor Inspectorate.

The orders determined that employees risked inhaling dangerous microorganisms from the rubbish – which could lead to illness.

Jimmy Andresen, who is the main shop steward for the special workers in the municipality of Copenhagen, says that it is “not small things” that happen in the rubbish bins.

He says that people use the bins as toilets, and that the municipality’s employees breathe in dust from many strange things.

– Before the orders came, the rubbish was at the top of the rubbish pile. When you grabbed it and threw it into the car, biological dust came up. You stand with your upper body into the room in which you empty the can, he says.

Will be equipped with helmets

Copenhagen municipality has now allocated 4.1 million Danish kroner to protect the employees who empty the bins.

Operating unit manager in Copenhagen municipality, Helene Vinter Seidel, confirms this to TV 2 Kosmopol.

– We didn’t know about this before. Neither has the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority when they have visited our departments. We have not known that we have to be aware of biological agents, she says.

Biological agents include viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi.

Vinter Seidel says that the funds will be used for, among other things, masks, aprons, better bags and helmets with visors.

In this way, the employees will in future be protected from harmful micro-organisms.