Weekly Refuse Collections

[The Dorset Wanderer]

Sadly the comments of many on here are not echoed by the main body of the population. I see holiday makers on our seafront just disposing of their cast off's in whichever bin is nearest. Never mind the fact it's got RECYCLING MATERIAL ONLY written on it with a general waste bin 10 steps away-just bone idle and an arogant way of giving 2 fingers-Rant over.

[Revolution Mike]

As the OP, I am disappointed that no-one has picked up on my point about my local environment (ie my street) where all the front gardens are all full of a multiplicity of broken and overflowing plastic containers.

 

Ed

 

As someone who does quite a lot of work on waste management across the EU, all I can really say about that point is that we are no where near the levels of other countries (in terms of number of boxes or levels of recycling)! Half of Belgium (Flanders) has at least 7 boxes, poss 8 now. If you educate people and allow it to become the norm then you get widespread acceptance - part of our problem is that some people are sceptical about the value of recycling, but a bigger problem IMO is that we have such varied systems from council to council.

 

If you accept the premise that recycling is in general a good thing - for the majority of materials it is from a material and energy basis - then the easiest/best way to allow recycling to happen is source separation so you don't get contamination (either from different types of recyclates or from food waste).

 

Cheers, Mike

[Penlan]

We have weekly collections, not a problem for us, but because the village is in a holiday let area, and the visitors seem to be able to fill 2 wheellie bins a week (e.g. their own allocated one and any other they can find that's not full yet), the local Council has fortunatly not gone fortnightly

- Oh and we have loads of sea-gulls - black plastic bags are spotted miles away.

 

Recycling of bottles and card/paper is fortnightly

- one wonders from the number of bottles/cans left by some visitors if they were in this world at all during their stay.

 

On holiday myself recently, collection of Commercial property (Holiday Lets) in Ambleside is Wednesday pm, we arrived Friday, the large wheellie bin was jam packed and the lid partially open, what on earth could (at max) a family of 4 produce in 1.5 days?

PS - There was also a recycling facility too.

 

Our local proper re-cycling area is the other side of Penzance at St Erth, about 8 miles away,

although there are some bottle and paper 'banks' in Penzance - always full when I visit though.

 

I've noticed some of the commercial wheelie bins at holiday lets, emptied by a private contractor, have locks on them

[Penlan]

....As the OP, I am disappointed that no-one has picked up on my point about my local environment (ie my street) where all the front gardens are all full of a multiplicity of broken and overflowing plastic containers.

Hadn't occurred to me re. front gardens, but then we haven't got any,

nearly all the cottages front onto the road, sometimes with a narrow pavement as well.

As above, black plastic bags are the food store for sea-gulls, foxes, badgers, and vermin,

oh and the 100's of cats that seem to live here ( I have dogs..).

[iL Dottore]

We aren't to badly off for rubbish collection. As Mrs iD is Swiss, I learnt VERY early in our relationship to recycle and they do make it easy for us: Supermarkets will take surplus cardboard and packaging (our local Migros has a big table where you can unpack your purchases from the outer cardboard and bin it in the provided bin) and will recycle PET bottles, batteries and milk bottles (a different kind of plastic). Glass (green, clear and brown) can be disposed off Mon - Sat between 0700 and 1900 (the recyling points are accessible 24/7, but the locals frown on you recycling at other times) and the same collection point also collects aluminium. Rubbish is collected once a week and providing you tag each plastic bag with a rubbish label (about GBP 1.20 each) you can put out as many bags as you wish. Specialised collection (cardboard, paper, old metal [free] garden waste [small charge]) is collected once or twice a month and twice a year there is a "bring and take" day where unwanted stuff can be taken, displayed and taken home by other people (one man's rubbish is another's treasure, what isn't coveted by your neighbours gets properly recycled at the end of the day). The "bring and take" also has a specialised drop off area for disposing of nasties like old paint, corroded metal tins, old paint thinners, old medications, etc.

 

There is also a recycling centre for the village, but I've not needed to go there so far...

 

They really make it easy

 

As for food waste, I am a "serious" amatuer cook and very little goes to waste (although I could never be as frugal as my grandmother)

 

F

[antrobuscp]

We have weekly collections, not a problem for us, but because the village is in a holiday let area, and the visitors seem to be able to fill 2 wheellie bins a week (e.g. their own allocated one and any other they can find that's not full yet), the local Council has fortunatly not gone fortnightly

- Oh and we have loads of sea-gulls - black plastic bags are spotted miles away.

 

Recycling of bottles and card/paper is fortnightly

- one wonders from the number of bottles/cans left by some visitors if they were in this world at all during their stay.

We have a holiday let in a town not too far from you Penlan. We've dreaded a change to fortnightly collections because, as you say, visitors seem perfectly capable of filling a wheelie bin and more. If a visitor forgets to put out the bin on collection day, you've really got problems. That happened to us last year and we only found out about it once the gulls had decided to redistribute the contents of the bin over a wide area. As I understand it, weekly collections are to remain for the moment at least.

 

Part of the problem is, as others have said, that there is not a standardised system for the separation/collection of recyclable waste. Visitors turn up, and put recyclable materials in the ecobox, not realising that it won't be taken or, as a default position, just chuck everything in the general bin. Standardising what can and can't be recycled across the country would be a big step forward.

 

We have weekly recyclables collections here in Sefton, with alternate weeks garden and general waste collections. Only rarely do we run short of space, and if we do the odd bin bag seems to be accepted. Otherwise, although I wasn't in favour of a fortnightly collection, I wouldn't make a fuss about it here.

[melmerby]

 

Part of the problem is, as others have said, that there is not a standardised system for the separation/collection of recyclable waste.

 

This is the crux of the whole British psyche. Any attempt to get a Nationwide unified system would be met by the inevitable "It wouldn't work here because......".

Which is the pat answer when they don't want to get up off their fat *rses and do something useful.

 

EDIT the amount of waste produced also seems to depend on peoples attitudes.

 

I used to have a guest house and despite having the same number of rooms & occupancy of the property next door never seemed to have as much waste in the bin and we had a standard size wheely and the neighbour had a commercial size (50% larger and extra cost to pay) bin which was full to overflowing every collection day.

 

Keith

[Ozexpatriate]

At least none of you have mentioned a scheme similar to one I experienced in the Chicago suburban area.

 

Yard waste was required to be placed in brown paper bags - very specific and not very large brown paper bags that could be purchased in the local hardware stores. In addition to that, a sticker (also purchased from the local hardware store for, if memory serves, $1 each) had to be placed visibly on each bag to be collected.

 

You needed to have quite a store of these bags and stickers come autumn when all the leaves fell of the trees in the same week. What a chore it was bagging them in the little bags.

 

This was on top of the usual garbage collection rates. All very recyclable, and at a cost proportional to use, but labourious and frustrating when you run out of bags and tags.

[antrobuscp]

To clarify my meaning, I think what is recyclable should be standardised, the means of doing so might vary depending upon local conditions. For example, in parts of Sefton where there are a lot of terraced houses, there are no wheelie bins, plastic sacks are still used. I think there was an issue over the fire and other risks in certain areas where the bins would have been kept virtually on the front step of the properties but the plasticsacks could be found space within the property. Those areas have ecoboxes/food recycling, but no garden waste bin which is largely superfluous.

 

For most of the year, I don't think there is a problem at our holiday let, but during June to August we get large family groups - up to 9 - and in that period a fortnightly collection would be a problem.

 

I agree that how much waste is produced depends upon individual attitudes, and to some extent that depends upon how "picky" the recycling rules are. I'm not going to spend a lot of time handling or cleaning razor sharp can lids, for example.

[Adrian Wintle]

At least none of you have mentioned a scheme similar to one I experienced in the Chicago suburban area.

 

Yard waste was required to be placed in brown paper bags - very specific and not very large brown paper bags that could be purchased in the local hardware stores. In addition to that, a sticker (also purchased from the local hardware store for, if memory serves, $1 each) had to be placed visibly on each bag to be collected.

 

You needed to have quite a store of these bags and stickers come autumn when all the leaves fell of the trees in the same week. What a chore it was bagging them in the little bags.

 

This was on top of the usual garbage collection rates. All very recyclable, and at a cost proportional to use, but labourious and frustrating when you run out of bags and tags.

 

We have a similar yard waste pickup (pickup interval varies, but is fortnightly during the prime growing season), but we use LARGE double-wall brown paper bags (again, available at hardware stores) - they will hold a lot of compacted leaves or weeds. They are sufficiently large that I have a problem reaching to the bottom to get them to unfold fully. No tags or other fees necessary - they will pick up any number of bags at a time. You can put all yard waste except grass clippings, soil, or tree cuttings over 4" in diameter into them.

 

Adrian

[Tony_S]

We have white bags (garden waste, weekly collection except winter); pink bags (recyclable stuff ), blue bags (clothing/fabric), black bags ( non-recyclables), yellow box (for glass) all fortnightly except that the black and pink bags are on alternate weeks. The little waste food caddy we have recently acquired gets taken weekly (not that we have much waste food!). It seems to work down this road, and the council have provided a little leaflet with pictures of bags to show what should be out each week.

Our dog loves Wednesday mornings , so many different refuse vehicles to warn me about now.

[ForestPines]

At least none of you have mentioned a scheme similar to one I experienced in the Chicago suburban area.

 

Yard waste was required to be placed in brown paper bags - very specific and not very large brown paper bags that could be purchased in the local hardware stores. In addition to that, a sticker (also purchased from the local hardware store for, if memory serves, $1 each) had to be placed visibly on each bag to be collected.

 

...

 

This was on top of the usual garbage collection rates. All very recyclable, and at a cost proportional to use, but labourious and frustrating when you run out of bags and tags.

 

In Bristol we have a similar scheme for garden waste - it will only be collected if it is in special bags which have to be bought from the council. Alternatively, if you have a car, you can take it to the tip for free.

[Penlan]

......- it will only be collected if it is in special bags which have to be bought from the council......

We had a similar system in Wiltshire (Nr. Devizes) and when the special, paid for, bags were collected, they were thrown into the same wagon back as all the other rubbish, perhaps it was seperated at the depot!!!!!!

 

I moved away from there 11 years ago, so don't know the present practices.

[Revolution Mike]

We had a similar system in Wiltshire (Nr. Devizes) and when the special, paid for, bags were collected, they were thrown into the same wagon back as all the other rubbish, perhaps it was seperated at the depot!!!!!!

 

They are optically sorted if they are different colours for different types of waste.

 

Cheers, Mike

[DavidH]

I know that non-recyclables in the recycling is annoying, but do some of you in tourist areas regularly check your bin to log every transgression by holidaymakers? Probably not, but it almost sounds like it!

 

May I put the argument for the holidaymaker? When you rent somewhere, for a start, there are no stocked cupboards, so you have to buy everything. If you don't know the local shops you're going to probably make for the nearest supermarket, which means you'll probably have more packaging anyway. You generally can't leave anything behind at the end of the rental, so you either have to take the remains home, if you have room, or use up/empty and throw away all the packaging.

 

Second, I'd hazard a guess that you're more likely to at least once do a takeaway or prepare a more lavish meal than you're used to. Some places I've stayed, an evening of pizzas and wine pretty much filled up the bin/recycling caddy. What do you do at that point, if you're unfamiliar with the local area?

 

Yes, some people don't care how much they throw away, some people don't want to recycle, some people even forget to put the bin out, but these traits are pretty much universally shared out across the whole of society, and not the preserve of holidaymakers.

[Colin_McLeod]

Forthightly collections came about naturally in Cork when the public only put their bin out on average every fortnight following the introduction of a fortnightly free paper, card and plastic recycling coupled with a charge every time the bin was emptied. Householders do not pay rates in Ireland (at present) and the bin collection is paid for by the customer dependended on how much waste they need collected.

[Welly]

The UK's first nappy recycling plant was recently opened by a firm called Knowaste. Hopefully there will be more, plus, more importantly, the means and public will to collect them for recycling.,

I feel sorry for the poor sods who have to drive lorry loads of these to the recyling plant. And those who have to repair those recycling machines when they break down!

 

Back to the days of the dreaded nappy bucket? ( after I went out of my nappies, my parents re-used the nappy bucket to mash home made wine... )

[Colin_McLeod]

( after I went out of my nappies, my parents re-used the nappy bucket to mash home made wine... )

 

Far too much information. !!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...What I have never seen said is the effect on the environment of every front garden being full of plastic bins and boxes of all the colours of the sun, and in various states of disrepair and often overflowing. Is it me?...

Living in a town which has a by-law requiring the bins to be out of sight from the street does help. You could lobby your councillor on the issue, run a campaign to get councillors elected who will vote for such a plan (stand yourself): and if this issue is then high enough on voter's agendas there is a chance of change.

 

What is interesting in Welwyn Garden where this 'bins out of sight' by-law applies is that it was written in the days of a single dustbin, and I do not believe it has been amended to cover the three (each individually much larger) wheelie bins now in use. Such was the commitment to the bins out of sight principle that all residential property had to have suitable storage for the dust bin included, whether built by the original private company, or independently on a leased plot, or by the new towns commission and then the council who were the management successors post WWII. The information with the wheelie bins is that they are to be moved to kerbside no earlier than 17:00 on the day preceeding scheduled collection, and are to be removed from kerbside no later than the morning following collection. But no moves detectable requiring new builds to have out of sight storage for all the bins, and enforcement of bins out of sight is weak. Big variations as you go around the town as a result: good areas where the inhabitants care, and messed up areas where the knowlessmen abide.

[Kenton]

Living in a town which has a by-law requiring the bins to be out of sight from the street does help. knowlessmen abide.

So what do you do keep them indoors in your open-plan living room?

 

We are fortunate to be on once a week for main waste bins and alternate weeks for "recyclables". Probably about 30 weeks of the year we only put out half a bag of general waste but there are occasions when the amount goes up to two bags. Like this week, after a bit of a clear out, I have just filled 2 additional bins with polystyrene packaging (you know those unenviromentally friendly boxes that Hornby et al. force fit their products into.)

 

Then there are the grass cuttings and leaves off the lawn that fills the two small sacks that have to be used to qualify for recyclable collection. Also the two plastic boxes that get filled with plastics and paper ... "Fresh" uncooked waste goes in the garden composter and cooked waste is so little goes down the waste disposal pump.

 

I always thought that waste collection was one of the most important part of the "Rates/Council Tax" payment

[woodenhead]

A change to the recycling where I live means we can now throw our food into the green (composting) bin which is collected every two weeks as opposed to the general waste bin that is collected weekly.

 

Now as the argument for weekly collections is about smell from rotting food attracting rats and the government are funding a return to weekly collections where they have been abandoned then having the ability to put your rotting food into a bi-weekly collection composting bin seems an odds with policy. Or is this a means of justifying not having a weekly collection because by choice (you don't have to use the composting bin) people will have opted for bi-weekly collection of the smelly stuff and what's left in general waste are the plastics - bags/wrappings that can't be recycled (we have another bin for plastic bottles) which can also then go two weekly as there is no perceived heath risk in not doing so.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

So what do you do keep them indoors in your open-plan living room? ...

 

I always thought that waste collection was one of the most important part of the "Rates/Council Tax" payment

I keep mine in the 'utility area' built alongside the garage as part of the original design of the house. All the houses were built with the capability to handle the original bin, with shared through passages to rear for every pair of homes built in terraces, and the like; it was intelligently thought through. Flats and similar arrangements typically have outbuildings providing refuse bin storage. To do it right needs commitment, and will involve expenditure which may not be popular, but alongside potable water supply and adequate sewage treatment provision, sound refuse handling is right up there as a civic amenity for public health.

[DLT]

The aspect of this that never seems to be addressed at any level, is the simple fact that we are PRODUCING far too much rubbish in the first place. The concentration is entirely on disposal, rather than a two-pronged approach dealing with disposal AND reduction.

Most of the waste produced in our household is plastic packaging, be it from food or whatever. We fill our recycling bin every fortnight, (and flatten as much as we can) but our black bin is rarely more than a quarter full. Government has failed on this issue, by concentrating on disposal and "passing the buck" on to local councils and householders.

Dave.

[Karhedron]

The aspect of this that never seems to be addressed at any level, is the simple fact that we are PRODUCING far too much rubbish in the first place.

Well said! We are trying to treat the symptom rather than the disease.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Long haul to a fix though, and we have to avoid inadvertently shooting ourselves in the foot. I was very struck by the data relating to packaging in the foodstuffs industry. Yes, there is loads of it. But what it does is ensure that the vast proportion of what is grown (expensively) reaches the customer in good condition with a lot of shelf life. I am not terminally ancient (don't yet qualify for a bus pass etc.) but can well remember in my youth how poor the quality of UK grown vegetables became by winter's end. In less developed areas there is often sufficient food grown to support the population but a combination of inadequate storage and handling - in which packaging design and materials play a big part - results in a deficient supply for the customers as losses along the way waste near half what was grown. Clearly that is most unacceptable.

 

Making the consumer level packaging returnable for re-use through the retailer chain may well be the way forward. Imagine if that was generally applied: what would the 'mint in box' collectors do? Perhaps they would have to have a 'mint out of reuseable box in clean room conditions with archival quality gloves on and immediately into my storage box' category?