Bins emptied twice a week.........

[mr motorola]

What's all this 'rubbish' about fortnightly collections? We have just received a new green box from our lovely council , to recycle cans , plastics...whatever. Along with 3 other bins (general household / garden and cardboard) waste , we now have to contend with this latest addition. Where and when were the general public asked their thoughts on this 'brilliant' idea?

 

So........apart from , what looks like a daleks convention up the side of the house , we now have to face fortnightly collections of general household waste. Fly tipping will be rife around our area , i can assure you.

 

I was reflecting on how much this islands take on things has changed in the 10 years with a friend of mine today , his outlook was full of expletives i won't repeat on here.

 

Is it us , joe public , to blame or could the excess packaging that comes with everything play a part too?

[Clifftop]

Mr M,This is an article in my local rag today, i'm sure you would agree it's much more preferable than putting all our rubbish in landfill.

By the time you take out everything that is recyclable you will probably find that your actual waste rubbish has dropped by a considerable amount.Thus resulting in less fly tipping.

I believe you are right in your comment about the packaging.Toally unneccessary most of it.

 

Cheers Fred

 

 

 

SOUTH Australians recycle more than those in any other state, reusing up to 68 per cent of all waste.

 

The latest figures, provided to The Advertiser yesterday, show people in SA recycled more than 1500kg of waste per person in the past year.

 

This is almost twice as much as those in Western Australia, who recycled 812kg per person, and more than 600kg more than those in New South Wales who recycled 903kg.

 

SA's record was only slightly exceeded by the Australian Capital Territory. Residents there recycled 1667kg a person.

 

State Environment Minister Gail Gago said 2.43 million tonnes of material was diverted from landfill in the past year.

 

"Our state's recycling record prevented the equivalent of about 0.93 million tonnes of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere," she said.

 

"This compares to taking 214,000 passenger cars off the road. "

 

In a further boost to recycling in SA, 10 state councils and 16,000 residents are to take part in a six-month trial to introduce the roadside collection of food waste.

 

The $800,000 pilot program will result in kitchen waste being combined with garden organics.

 

Residents will be given a bench-top container for food waste such as vegetables and meat scraps.

 

These will be emptied into the garden organics bin for kerbside collection and specific processing.

 

"Instead of sending this food waste to landfill, where it decomposes and creates methane, a potent greenhouse gas, it can be turned into valuable compost to enrich our soils," Ms Gago said.

[Alan Stubbs]

I have a bit of an issue with the whole of the 'recycle everything' brigade....

 

Sorting the waste even after collection doesn't actually ensure that it will be recycled. I agree that landfill is an issue, but has the case been adequately made by the advocates of recycle at all costs? I am not so sure and even less certain that the current waste collection / disposal issue is more than tokenism by councils who didn't consider the cost of their actions before implementation and are thus aiming at fortnightly collections simply to mask the inevitable cost overruns.

 

Recycling paper is a bit of a bugbear to me....

 

1) The majority of paper is derived from virgin fibre or sub-standard paper which never left the mill after manufacture. The trees from which the virgin fibre is taken are grown as a cash crop. Reduce the requirement for that and what happens to the forestry industry? It still needs thinning out - 'harvesting', if you like.

 

2) Cellulose fibre is a basic commodity and therefore has a market price. It is converted into in countless types of paper all designed to perform a specific role - newsprint, photocopier paper, loo rolls, wrapping paper, to name just a few. They all have different charactersitics and varying fibre requirements. What happens when the cost of sorting paper for recycling reaches a point where it is simply not economic to do so? - This is far more prevalent than people may think. What happens is that the paper mills withdraw their community collection and will grudgingly take stuff delivered to them only if a certain weight of paper delivered can be guaranteed. So what happens? Paper is left to accrue elsewhere.

 

Do those who persist in telling everyone that we must recycle everything also want to claim domain over other people's commercial decisions? If so become a minister in a Labour Government - at least they can then delude themselves of their legitimacy to interfere.

[corydoras]

What's all this 'rubbish' about fortnightly collections? We have just received a new green box from our lovely council , to recycle cans , plastics...whatever. Along with 3 other bins (general household / garden and cardboard) waste , we now have to contend with this latest addition. Where and when were the general public asked their thoughts on this 'brilliant' idea?

 

So........apart from , what looks like a daleks convention up the side of the house , we now have to face fortnightly collections of general household waste. Fly tipping will be rife around our area , i can assure you.

 

I was reflecting on how much this islands take on things has changed in the 10 years with a friend of mine today , his outlook was full of expletives i won't repeat on here.

 

Is it us , joe public , to blame or could the excess packaging that comes with everything play a part too?

I don't know why some people have a difficulty with the concept of putting different things in different bins. In France I get two collections EVERY week. Thursday night we put out everything except food waste, Friday night we put out food waste. During the months of July and August when it is hot they come around EVERY morning and you can leave out what you want and they sort it in the lorry.

 

My landlord, for some reason best beknown to him, just can't get his head around recycling or just plain does not want to. I will laugh my b@llocks off whe he gets fined £1,000 for putting the wrong stuff in the wrong bin. No sympathy. What happened to that old British 'waste-not, want-not philosophy that I was raised with?

Edited June 16, 2008 by corydoras

[Vagabond]

At the present rate, you will soon need a degree in material science, before you are allowed to become a householder and preside over an array of bins.

 

When I was involved with steam railway preservation, we used to collect waste paper and sell it to the mills. We rebuilt two derelict steam locos virtually from scratch (six-figure projects) on the strength of that.

 

Then the mills told us it was no longer economic for them to buy our paper, no doubt for the complex technical reasons outlined by Alan.

 

It was a major problem getting the juggernaut of several hundred enthusiastic paper-collecters stopped. The EU butter-mountain had nothing on our paper mountain.

[corydoras]

I have a bit of an issue with the whole of the 'recycle everything' brigade....

 

Sorting the waste even after collection doesn't actually ensure that it will be recycled. I agree that landfill is an issue, but has the case been adequately made by the advocates of recycle at all costs? I am not so sure and even less certain that the current waste collection / disposal issue is more than tokenism by councils who didn't consider the cost of their actions before implementation and are thus aiming at fortnightly collections simply to mask the inevitable cost overruns.

 

Recycling paper is a bit of a bugbear to me....

 

1) The majority of paper is derived from virgin fibre or sub-standard paper which never left the mill after manufacture. The trees from which the virgin fibre is taken are grown as a cash crop. Reduce the requirement for that and what happens to the forestry industry? It still needs thinning out - 'harvesting', if you like.

 

2) Cellulose fibre is a basic commodity and therefore has a market price. It is converted into in countless types of paper all designed to perform a specific role - newsprint, photocopier paper, loo rolls, wrapping paper, to name just a few. They all have different charactersitics and varying fibre requirements. What happens when the cost of sorting paper for recycling reaches a point where it is simply not economic to do so? - This is far more prevalent than people may think. What happens is that the paper mills withdraw their community collection and will grudgingly take stuff delivered to them only if a certain weight of paper delivered can be guaranteed. So what happens? Paper is left to accrue elsewhere.

 

Do those who persist in telling everyone that we must recycle everything also want to claim domain over other people's commercial decisions? If so become a minister in a Labour Government - at least they can then delude themselves of their legitimacy to interfere.

My OPINION, just an opinion is that this is just another case of the UK being effing lazy and being at the cow's tail in Europe yet again. The French have been sorting their waste for recycling for the last 20 years, this is not an issue in France, whilst we have not even started yet.

[Steve Walker]

The only reason the councils are so keen on recycling is that they get financially penalised for landfill. Recycling has become something of a political statement; the sensible thing to do with a lot of waste is to burn it for energy. I don't have a problem with separating out metal and glass, and compostable waste goes to my own heap, but I do have a bit of sympathy with the point of view that says "I barely use council services. 90% of my council tax is spent on other people. The one thing I really use is rubbish collection. Please just take my rubbish away like you always did and stop bothering me".

 

One thing I do have against it, actually; the other week, bin men spilt the contents of someone's metals bin over the road. I got the lid of a corned beef tin embedded in my tyre tread. Luckily, it only cut into the tread and didn't puncture the tyre. Sadly, the same could not be said of my fingers after I'd pulled it off the tyre. Amazing how much a sliced finger bleeds.

[Mister Toad]

I have this strange sense of deja vu.

 

When I was young and lived with my parents in Bristol we practised a form of recycling. In addition to the "ash bin", we had a "pig bin" and a paper sack.

 

The ash bin was metal and used for the ashes from the coal fire and other general household waste.

 

The pig bin was a small metal bin with a lid that was held closed by a strong catch. This was used for kitchen waste hence the need for a strong catch to discourage unwanted attention.

 

The paper sack, as its name suggests, was a sack for newspapers, cardboard etc.

 

Have now come full circle?

Edited June 16, 2008 by Mister Toad

[Alan Stubbs]

It was interesting to read Corydoras's reply.

 

Am I right in thinking that local government in France is a little more powerful than in the UK?

 

They certainly seem to be able to do things rather than finding reasons for not doing so 'We lose funding from central government...' comes to mind.

[Norrie]

Hiya, We have been getting our bins emptied once a fortnight for mibbes a couple of years now..and its NOT working...there are fly tippers all over the place now...the family next door, had over 30 binbags of rubbish piled up against there back wall for almost 6 months, before the council did something about it!!! FILTH everywhere.....absolutely disgusting, and it took a call from our local Councillor to get it sorted.... ALL down to the collection every fortnight!!!

 

They have three kids, and have too much rubbish for the rubbish schedule to cope!!!! They cant even get a "free uplift" more than twice a year, its around £35 a time after that.

 

This was taken approx two weeks after the pileup of bags was cleared....and this is not unusual either!! They aint the only folks with trouble..!!!

 

 

 

 

The smell from the Green bin,( we have three wheelies) after a few Cod heads, or chicken carcasses, lying in it for almost a fortnight, at the height of summer, is absolutely revolting!!!! BUT, the Maggots are handy!!!!

 

THIS is what some of you have to look forward to from now on...well done the Govt!!!!

Edited June 16, 2008 by Norrie