Grrr! - me ragin!!
Last Wednesday i put our wheely-bin out for collection, there were three bins already out in the street, each with a black-rubbish bag on top, (out of reach of dogs or rats). When I went to retrieve our bin later, the bin-men had picked these bags off the bins and just chucked them down in the street to kick about for another fortnight!
So, incensed at thier laziness, I phoned the council to complain and gave them some stick! - next day a van was sent and the rubbish was picked up and removed.
Today, I have just recieved a very strongly worded warning (accompanied by photos showing at least one bag as being mine!!!!) about putting out
a)excessive rubbish
b)uncontained in a bin
c)that fly-tipping is an offence.
It seems that some "folk" have lifted my rubbish out of my bin and put thiers in!! - possibly to avoid this very scenario!! - Cheeky Sods!!!
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Sneak out on bin night and saw the wheels off their bins.
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Or put your binoculars to good use...
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In Switzerland bags are identified to original purchser/owner with a serial number and contents are often inspected. It is bordering on a criminal offence to put used batteries (or the like) in a bag - so if your neighbours have upset you, all you have to do is slide a couple of AA cells into "their" bag. Sit back and wait for the Stasi :)
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>> ............ out of reach of dogs
>> or rats).
Rats are accomplished climbers and can climb up almost any type of surface. If you do happen to have rats in your area there's a fair chance that they've been attracted by food thrown out by householders who mistakenly think that it will only be eaten by birds.
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Never actually seen Ratus-Norvegicus near the houses, but there are loads up on the allotments, so i`ve no-doubt that nocturnal visits will likely be on thier rounds!
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>> Rats are accomplished climbers and can climb up almost any type of surface
I thought wheely bins were supposed to be rat-proof?
Mine isn't next-door's-cats-proof, I have to put a recycling box on top of the lid to keep them out :/
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>> I thought wheely bins were supposed to be rat-proof?
Rats chew the insulation of electrical wiring so they can probably chew their way into a plastic wheelie bin.
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Local paper would love that story.
I'd also remind the council that Eric Pickles is outlawing bin fines and other such harassment of householders. They are the council, it is their job to remove waste. Instead of moaning about bags outside of bins they should provide those households with inadequate bins with larger ones then they won't need to use extra bags!
If fly tipping is an offence they need to be prosecuting their own employees/contractors!!
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Going back to the topic title:
Enter the Irony
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc&ob=av2e
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Well heres further irony on this subject that I may as well mention whilst i`m still in the mood!
Two-weeks ago, a petition started doing the rounds, "protesting" against the Councils PROPOSED plan to close several small-town HWRC`s in the borough. No notices yet have officially been sent out to householders, but if you go to the Councils website, under waste management, there is a "survey" to be filled in, - not asking you your opinion of the closures, but discussing how best you can get rid of your waste, the "new" proposal is that they will come with a mobile unit, either saturdays or sundays (whichever is more favourable) and we can choose when! Jan-Feb or March-April etc AND we can choose between Morning or Afternoon!
Furthermore, I heard yesterday in the Pub, from one of the "lads" who workes at the HWRC(tip) that they and the street litter-pickers have already been given 30 days notice!! so much for our input!!!
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next time use bigger bin bags, you wont need so many to fill the wheely bin :)
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Now thats an idea! one of them full-sized ones would make it difficlut to pull out, especially if i dont tie it as well! - The Hostess wonders why I actually bother with a bag at all! I explained that it keeps the bin cleaner, - so it seems 5 mins with the yard brush and a bucket of disinfectant is going to be my new Wednoon chore! ;-(
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Our green bin takes about 4 bin bags.
Blue bin recycle paper bottles etc collected once a month.
Brown bin garden food waste once a forthnight collection.
The green bin is collected once a week usually one bin bag in the bin.
The blue bin should be collected more often,I mentioned this to the binmen.The council decide about collections.
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>>The blue bin should be collected more often
That'll be the oude genever then Dutchie!
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Recycling - it's just too bothersome!
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At your age someone should be doing it for you...
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I am lucky - my local Council reckon they are trying to provide a service and not *rs* about with red tape and petty fines. I have a landfill bin into which I can put any rubbish and a recycling bin into which I can put any recycling (they have a magic machine sorts it out) and a green bin for grass, leaves and garden waste. Each is emptied every 2 weeks, come rain or shine, by a good efficient team. I have seen occasional snotograms on bins - they have all related to being to heavy = full of earth and rocks!
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I have no problem with the general, glass/tin and paper bins. All emptied fortnightly.
However the green bin, a full sized one, is emptied every week. Ours usually contains two small, biodegradable bags of food waste...probably about 4 lbs in all. Swm likes to get rid of it every week ' cos it might smell ' . It's Winter, it won't smell and anyway its bagged, lidded and outside.
There's no garden waste this time of year to add to it. I do think it's not very ecologically sound to have a 20 ton truck stopping and starting all the time. We'll see three of these trucks tomorrow, three bins out. I put the bottle bin out once every 6 weeks when it's filled. Sometimes the paper and landfill bins can be left for a month.
At least the green 'un's always light to move !
Ted
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>Ours usually contains two small, biodegradable bags of food waste.
If the Govt. began a program to install a waste disposal unit, and grease trap if necessary, in every home there would be no food waste to dispose of except banana and fish skin.
The water companies could process the solid waste and sell it as fuel or fertilizer.
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That makes you East Riding then Dutchie? Since they accepted glass and packaging in the blue bin it soon fills. The extra gap caused by the Christmas break means that I've had to distribute a considerable amount amongst neighbours who are not at full capacity. I think the green (general waste) could go to fortnightly now. There would be no stinky mess in summer as all the food waste is in the brown bin.
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There should be a set of nationwide colours for wheelie bins. Our recycling bin is grey, and the garden waste bin is green.
My biggest gripe is that this winter the garden waste bin isn't being collected between 17th November last year and 5th April this year. I usually have to start mowing our sizeable lawns in February, so I'll have at least two bins-full to dispose of by other means.
Regarding recycling, we're not allowed to put glass in the bin and only two types of plastic are acceptable ~ PET and HDPE. The trouble is that a lot of plastic packaging says it's recycleable but it doesn't say what the material is. I petitioned the Prime Minister online to make it the law that all plastic items should be marked with the material, but I got nowhere.
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We live in the East Riding Fullchat.
Good idear recycling and it is working well here.I agree about the green bin being picked up once every two weeks..The refuge collector agrees.(We used to call them dustmen) >;)
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When did "dustmen" stop coming round the back of the house to get the bins and carry them to the bin lorry on their shoulders? I remember that as a child in the sixties, and there's a seventies Two Ronnies joke about a dustman getting married and "carrying her over the threshold but leaving bits of her up the garden path" so it was still happening at least then.
So, forum, your last date you can recall for such customer service was...?
Last edited by: Crankcase on Wed 25 Jan 12 at 12:37
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When I was a nipper, I remember at least mid-to-late 1970s the bin round the back was a wire cage with lid in which black plastic binbags were place.
The binmen would remove the binbags, carry them up the path and dispose of them in the bin lorry. Pretty sure they left a couple of new bags too.
My memory is vague, but I bet there was a lot less crap being thrown out in the 1970s than goes out each week in the wheelie bins (which can hold 4 or 5 binbags full of stuff if mashed down correctly!).
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As a kid living with my parents in Leeds in the seventies we had two galavanised steel bins in a recess at back of house. Bin men collected them in the fashion described above. Frankly there's no way that would pas H&S muster today and quite right too. Back injuries must have been universal.
OTOH by grandmother in Blandford Forum was required to drag hers to the end of the drive as early as 1969.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 25 Jan 12 at 12:50
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>>So, forum, your last date you can recall for such customer service was...?
1968 ish, before we moved to the country, where we had a pit, that we used to fill-in with the soil from digging the next one when it was almost full!
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Sometimes, just sometimes, I get homesick for the UK and all its loveable faults. Then I read a thread like this.
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Have never understood why in the UK every house has to have a separate set of wheelie bins. Makes houses and streets with no gardens look so ugly. The French seem to do quite well in having communal bins on street corners etc. I suppose the English would moan that they would have to walk a few yards with a sack of rubbish and that their human rights would be contravened
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Multiple wheelie bins and plastic recycling boxes plonked at the front of houses, particularly the older type inner city terraced properties with restricted rear access, are a complete eyesore, but I don’t think placing massive bins on street corners is the answer. At least, not for those living nearby, nor for those with mobility problems.
I believe that some councils take the sensible approach in such instances, and supply householders with plastic bags.
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Works the other side of the channel, why not here? Communal bins re emptied a lot more frequently and the system must be a lot cheaper than visiting every property.
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>>Works the other side of the channel, why not here?
Well, perhaps it does, but would you like to view such a monstrosity from your front window. I know I wouldn't!
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Brighton agree with you CGN, replacing salt bins with skips for communal rubbish ... great until the ice of last winter when pavements and roads on the steeper hills were rendered unusable. Far from great for the elderly and infirm or for those who live next to the skips in the summer. The French do well because the communal bins are collected at least twice a week and streets swept/washed very frequently - here collections/street cleaning are not so frequent!
In the Forest we still have weekly collections of bags. Black for household rubbish, clear for re-cycling, glass to bins in carparks/supermarkets etc where you can also take other materials and you can pay for robust reusable bags for garden waste. Research apparently showed that 10+ bags can be collected in the time it takes for 2 wheelie bins to be emptied.
* Edit due to your link to Brighton website! I got my info from two residents - one in Hove t'other in the main town. Might be rodent proof etc but they still have to be opened and closed thus creating noise and release wonderful odours on a summers night!
Last edited by: DeeW on Thu 26 Jan 12 at 09:56
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This is what the Dog does ... I have 2 compost bins which are subsidised by Cornwall council,
In those goes all waste vegetable matter fruit peel (quite a lot over 1 week)
The umpteen plastic food containers get cut into small pieces before going in the rubbish bin.
The ole woman takes all recyclable waste to the recycling containers at the supermarket on Saturday.
We put out 1 ordinary black (can I say that?) bin per week containing 1 large bl*ck bin liner.
If everyone lived like Dog - pigs might learn to fly.
Last edited by: Dog on Thu 26 Jan 12 at 09:13
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As usual this problem is being approached from completely the wrong end.
Why not force the manufacturers ( of everything) to reduce hugely, the amount of unnecessary packaging used?
The outer leaves of a cabbage are the packaging, likewise an onion.
Batteries...I can't get into a pack of them even with scissors.
I bought a new pair of secateurs which were cable tied twice on to a card, meaning I couldn't try the hand span of them until they were released.
White goods, all come in huge boxes with loads of polystyrene to fill the box.
Amazon, buy almost any small item and it comes in a cardboard box which is 4 times to big but again, contains bubble wrap to fill it up.
Source the problem, deal with it and no answer is needed.
Pat
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1 You don't need to buy pre-packed cabbages or onions. Supermarkets and indeed market stalls sell them loose.
2 Batteries are available in cardboard packaging.
3 White good do need some protection. Would yo accept a fridge with a dent in the side? The polystyrene is a nuisance to dispose of but how often do you buy a fridge.?
4. Amazon items have to survive the rigours of the post. Cardboard can be recycled or indeed composted .
With a little thought it is possible to radically reduce your waste.
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>>With a little thought it is possible to radically reduce your waste. <<
With a little thought, and a reduction in production costs, there wouldn't be half as much waste to recycled.
Pat
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I am deeply impressed that you know how to deal with an onion and a cabbage. When did this culinary skill with non canned goods develop?
Or have you been hiding your light under a over-packaged bushel?
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>>Why not force the manufacturers ( of everything) to reduce hugely, the amount of unnecessary packaging used?<<
Or at the very least make it recyclable, which the majority of it is not.
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Here they class pretty much all plastic as recyclable, irrespective. It all goes into the blue bin, they cart it off somewhere, probably China, and we get glowing reports about how well we're doing as a county in the regular magazine.
Paper and cardboard go in the same bin, as does glass and tins, and they take batteries in a little bag you attach to the handle when full.
So either pretty well everything IS recyclable (our black bin rarely has much in) and other counties aren't doing it for whatever reason, or South Cambs is telling us porkies about what's happening to it.
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>>or South Cambs is telling us porkies about what's happening to it.
Think i`ve mentioned this before (have I?) that the "Tonight" programme delved into the "True" extent of Britains recycling, (Jonathan Maitland ?)
Most "Bottle banks" although having seperate compartments still contain mixed glass due to folk not putting stuff in the right holes, when the skip is emptied it is simply up-ended and tipped out, ending up in a mixed heap, there isnt enough staff to sort it out or remove any non-glass in there, so it all goes through a crusher and land-fill.
Plastics, we(UK) can only recycle "certain plastics" for e.g we can recycle milk containers but not the tops, and as our plastics are so badly sorted by our councils, it was shipped off to Indonesia for sorting, then bought back sorted by our recycling firms. However due to the credit crunch, this became unviable expense wise, so the majority of your carefully sorted plastics go to land fill.
So its not just South Cambs telling us porkies, tis most of them and the Gov!
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That's intriguing. I might FOI some info out of them.
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I "commandeer" any bubble wrappings my friends aquire, sellotape it together and use it to line the greenhouse when i have the heaters on!
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definition of Ironic! - Zero
