mel b3

and that gentlemen , is how to get the executive service . in all seriousness , im just glad when the public are polite to me. my crew and myself always give 100%, and saying good morning costs nothing.

The theory is great , but the reality is somewhat different. 👍

That makes perfect sense , and is probably one of the symptoms of not having a regular , full time , driver on your route( as I mentioned in my last post). I have streets on my routes , that usually have no green bins out for collection, I still work these streets into my route , just in case.

This is something that will only get worse , a lot of it is down to zero hours contracts ,and pay cuts. Working on the bins can be very hard work , but, it was always well paid, guys would fight to get and keep their jobs , now that many binmen are agency workers earning not much more than minimum wage ,even if they get a full weeks work , they really aren't that bothered , my dept struggles to man the vehicles some days , and this will only get worse. As a driver , I go well above and beyond to empty every bin on my rounds, and so does my crew . roads( especially cul de sacs ),are often blocked with cars,we always knock doors( and often get told to xxxx off) to try to get cars moved , or just drag the bins to the truck ,if possible, this wastes massive amounts of time and money. I'm not sure how hard I'd try if I didn't even know if I had a days work tomorrow or not.

This is a pretty major problem with the local authority that I work for( and I would guess for other local authorities ) , so much so that measures have had to be put into place , and bins no longer get returned for. We used to have a guy in a truck that would drive around and collect refuse that was reported as a missed collection,I've done the job myself ,and you would often be called to a property each day ,when the residents had filled a bin bag, they would just make a call saying that their collection had been missed ,and soneone would be sent to collect it. It was quite ridiculous and must have been massively expensive. Now that finances have been tightened up ,this job has gone. It was also discovered , that only a tiny fraction of missed refuse complaints were genuine, most of them occurred when the residents had forgotten to put the bins out( much worse during school holidays when folks often don't get up as early),another major issue is residents re filling bins after they have been emptied( this happens more with green waste),and then calling to complain that their bin hasn't been emptied. This problem is slowly reducing due to crews recording properties with extra waste left out (I take a pic, when the residents complain that I've not emptied their bin , they get sent the pic), this is slowly stopping the fictitious complaints, and allowing the genuine complaints to be dealt with properly. It's a real shame, but it's a case of the few spoiling it for the many. I can't comment on all local authorities, but I do know that some refuse collection vehicles are fitted with cameras that record everything that happens around the truck ,and this footage is used to prove/disprove the complaint.

My mom and dad used to have three large composting bins and a compost heap , they were fanatical( mainly my mom)about shredding things to put into the bins ,my mom was also very much on the ball with household refuse,almost everything got recycled, and they would only generate one carrier bag of refuse per fortnight.

Many council are standing down ,and handing over the running of departments to private contractors, that's when things get really difficult for residents. If your bin lid is open an inch ,your bin doesn't get taken until it's closed by you , if you waste is contaminated in any way , your bins don't get taken until they're sorted by you. The waste care department that I work for is still council run , the service in all honesty is pretty good , and is very much focused on serving local residents. The waste care department where I live is privately run , and is focused on profit . If you contaminate your green waste bin ,or refuse ,or recycling bin ,then it doesn't get emptied that week , the private company will send someone out to watch you empty your bin in front of them(they will not assist you) ,and you refill your bin in front of them , they will advise you what you can and can't put into your bin . If you contaminate your bin for a second time ,your service is suspended, and if you aren't at home when you've arranged to meet the waste advisor , your service is suspended. Pretty harsh but that's the way it is . The private company that runs the waste collection service where I live ,have been pushing the local authority for more money , and it looks possible that they might walk away at the end of the contract, this might be where someone will take over that will charge us by the bin weight. I'm not looking forward to that very much.

That must be really annoying, but it's probably the easiest and most sensible solution. 👍 I can't speak for your local authority obviously ,but in the local authority that I work for , this would be the very last resort . It might happen for the odd bin if the correct vehicle couldn't get there for some reason, and it would never be more than a single bin. If someone at your local authority is allowing a refuse vehicle to collect green waste on a regular basis , you should be involving your local councillors , and someone should be losing their job. On the other hand ,I have up to twenty members of the public approach me or my crew every day ,and start complaining that we've missed their bin , we just point out that were collecting green waste and not refuse , many of them just don't believe you , even when they watch you emptying green bins lol. Another favourite is , why can't you just put our refuse in with the green waste.

I agree that the correct community sentence would be better at reducing crime than very short prison sentences. If you're caught shoplifting, you should spend a few days sitting in the stocks at your local town centre ,in front of the whole community. If your caught burgling a house , you should be horse whipped in your local town centre, in front of the whole community.

From my understanding of things dave , it's not a threat, it's the reality of the way things are going , I think that it's just a matter of time to be honest , it'll be one of the ways that the public are forced to recycle. You should see the waste that we've dragged off the streets over the last month , it's mind blowing, the daft part is , that most of it could have been recycled , that would have meant that instead of paying for it to be burned or buried , it could have been sold to offset collection costs. A lot of the problem is education, if the public could see and understand what happens with the waste that they produce , they would be much more likely to recycle . The systems in place are far from perfect( some are total pants),but they're much better than the alternatives.

This is where a reduced winter service would be of most use ,most people won't use the green waste service in winter ,but it would be handy if you could just make a call and get a collection in winter. Another problem is knowing when the leaves will be falling from the trees ,some years the trees will be bare in November, but this year , trees still have leaves on them now(not evergreens before someone says it). 2017 was the lightest ( for tonnage of green waste collected) that I have ever known , it was purely down to the hot dry weather, and it was just a guessing game ,I wouldn't have wanted to be the person trying to plan resources, it would have only taken one day of rain , for collection weights to quadruple. Be careful when using litter bins for household waste , with sensible use nobody will notice ,but if you fill it to the point that others are putting rubbish on the floor, it will get noticed ,and I believe that people have been prosecuted for fly tipping when filling litter bins with household waste. I can't speak for every local authority, but the one I work for replaces split bins free of charge. Bins also get stolen on a regular basis , refuse bins are replaced free of charge,and the aim is to replace them in seven days , green waste bins are charged for ,and may take a bit longer. They have only recently started charging for green waste bins , many residents were saying that their bin had been stolen , so that they could get an extra bin and get extra waste collected.

I'm surprised that you're allowed to put animal faeces into your green bin . Defra issue the licences for green waste collections, and one of the conditions is , no faeces from meat eaters( all to do with the bse outbreak), most local authorities just say no animal faeces at all,I'm guessing that it's just easier that way. You're general refuse bin is smaller in an attempt to force you to recycle , yes it saves money in a roundabout way , but recycling is what drives it. You pay council tax , not poll tax 👍. That's what many people do , it's the wrong thing to do really, but it's often the easiest way. It's a shame that the green waste service can't run all year round , the local authority that I work for have considered running a reduced service in winter , I'm not convinced that it could be done to be honest , but it's certainly worth looking at, as it would be very well received by many keen gardeners. Their will be soft and or blatant corruption in some local authorities, but often , they just react relatively slowly to situations , if for some reason nobody put a green been out for a week( due to weather conditions),then the local authority would be foolish to send the crews out the following week, unless weather conditions changed. That's a very vague example, but it's a basic idea of how things should work. I fear that many local authorities will stop green waste collections altogether, it's a very costly ,and none essential service. I can't really comment on your local recycling centre Dougy as i've never seen it , but , most sites I've visited are relatively well run( considering that it's used by many hundreds of people each day ,that haven't got the foggiest idea how to use the site , myself included ). If you're the type of person that will fly tip, then youll do it regardless of the tip. Your comments on the guy that works at the tip was just plain rude Dougy, everyone can't be a brain surgeon,and at least the guy was working and paying his way in life.

Many local authorities are changing to a paid for service dave , they just don't have the finances to pay for it any longer ,and green waste collection is very much a luxury service. When the service changes to a payed for service, many many people will refuse to pay ,as they'd rather go to the tip ,so the collection fleet would start off with just a couple of vehicles, as more and more people realise that £50 per year is better than waiting in line at the tip , they'll sign up for the service , as customers sign up , the fleet will expand. A garden shredder is your friend, you'd be amazed how much shredded waste will go into a green waste bin . I once got a 10 feet high x 90 feet long privet hedge into three wheelie bins. You should be notified about collection dates( that's the way it happens in the are that I work , but not where I live ),obviously some local authorities will not be so on the ball.

A few years ago ,a few councils moved from weekly to fortnightly refuse collections, in an attempt to force people to recycle, this was to reach recycling figures that were set by the government. In more recent times , it has also been done as a cost saving measure , as government take money away from local authorities, they look around to save money wherever possible. Local authorities have a duty of care when it comes to refuse, that just means that they are legally obliged to get it removed from the streets, they have no duty of care when it comes to green waste. When they say that it's collected for free, they mean that it's funded from their existing budget ,and no extra cost is passed onto the council tax payers,this is changing rapidly,and many local authorities are moving to a paid for service. The reason that the green waste collections are either shut down , or scaled down in winter , is to save money , some folks will still be doing a bit of gardening during the winter ,but most folks will do nothing whatsoever for several months , it's just not sensible to have a fleet of trucks diving around and collecting next to nothing . My green waste collectors job gets shut down in November, and starts again in April, during the shutdown I do other jobs , including , working as a refuse collector , delivering new bins, delivering the leaflets that notify the public of collection changes over the Christmas period, and calenders for collection dates.and quite a few other different jobs.

Morning gents. I work as a green waste collector . I can answer some of your questions, but obviously not all of them ,as each local authority will operate differently, especially if the waste is collected by private companies. Don't jump down my throat , I'm just trying to help . I know how crazy things can sometimes look when it comes to local authorities, sometimes it looks just as crazy to me , but mostly , their is a solid reason for things.