Recycling farce.

[mel b3]

Mel,

 

It's not the fact that bin wagons can't get down the street,

 

It's a full size wagon that collects the bags,

 

It's the fact that the houses physically have nowhere to store them, it was ok when we actually had bin sized bins, there is a place for them but not for the height of a wheels bin, on and only room for 1 bin,

 

A lot of the houses have bricked up the bin storage place as it is part of the kitchen on the inside, if they brick it up it gives then extra storage inside

 

Sorry shaun , my bad mate I was half asleep.

We have a few of those type if places , our way around it has been to build bin rooms , just a concrete pad with a wooden fence to hide the bins , it sounds like thus wouldnt be possible in your street though.

[clumber]

Never had a problem with the bin collection.

I feel sorry for the wagon driver. It seems that the average motorist around here can't park a car, it gets abandoned!

[mel b3]

Around here, (that means most of the local villages) the binmen drop loads more rubbish than they ever used to, in fact they never used to drop much at all. I've heard all the old comments of how rubbish was left everywhere when the binmen came but I never saw it to be true. They don't drop much now, it just blows out of their wagons because the flaps are open.

As for the working on the side of the road, I get the fact they have to be there but they could make a bit more effort to get on the side rather than just block everybody.

 

I am amazed you made such an effort to reply to everyone, well done you.

I make the effort because I see every day just how upset people get, a lot of the upset is caused by other issues that they have with the local authority, but the only person that they ever see is their binman , hence the binman gets it in the neck for everything, thats why a lot of binmen seem a little bit offish , on an average day you can get dozens of snide comments and the odd blazing row , a little bit of clarity helps everyone.

 

When refuse vehicles are travelling , the blade should be in the closed position , most modern trucks do this automatically, it could be something as simple as a driver that is used to driving new trucks , is now driiving an older truck and he just doesnt realise.

 

Blocking roads is a major issue , not all but most drivers will try to keep out of the way of other road users , but , with large trucks in small streets , it will always be a problem , ill happily drive down the middle of an empty street for several reasons , firstly , if youre in the middle of the road , the loader either side will be covering the same distance as his mate , this way you can move along a street at an even pace and much more wuickly and efficiently, secondly , if one guy is loading from the pavement but the other has to keep crossing the road , the truck has to sit and wait for him to bring the next bin , this is very slow and inefficient and also tires the loader more quickly and slows him down , those guys already walk around 15 miles per shift and even up to 20 miles , every footstep that can be saved is a bonus.

 

Going back to the abuse of binmen, I well remember a woman spitting at me and abusing me in the street , she did it because of the previous days strike , all well and good but I hadnt actually been on strike as I disagreed with it , had she been a man , I would have lost , my job , my gun tickets , and my freedom that day.

[mel b3]

Never had a problem with the bin collection.

I feel sorry for the wagon driver. It seems that the average motorist around here can't park a car, it gets abandoned!

I have to agree , but youd be amazed how quickly you get used to driving in those spaces , when its dark I like to have at least a half inch gap either side of my lorry , in daylight , im quite happy with a quarter inch gap between my lorry and parked vehicles.

[mel b3]

 

Right but my argument is they broke it why should i have to pay for replacement .

If i had caused the damage then that would be different i would expect to pay and would do so

but i will not pay for damage they have done with the wagon it belongs to them.

You shouldnt have to pay for it at all mike , it should be replaced or repaired free of charge , but heres the rub and this one really sticks in my throat , the local authority that I work for , has had so many bins stolen and damaged by the public , they now treat everyone as a thief and make them pay for a new bin , the main trick was to phone the council and say that your bin has been stolen , they would send a new bin and the blagger then has two bins , they then no longer recycle , it just all goes into the rubbish bin , we sometimes get lucky and are able to snatch the bin back , but more often than not they will place the bin outside of a property that doesnt have a bin out so we never know.

Its a classic case of many innocents suffering for a few blaggers.

I try to carry a few spare wheels on my truck and lids if we have them , me and the loaders do the odd repair if we have time.

[lister22]

What happens after brexit will we scrap the landfill tax

[39TDS]

What happens after brexit will we scrap the landfill tax

Double it is more likely.

[mel b3]

Keep it up Mel, you're doing a grand job!

Mates wife has had a response from council saying that bins should be placed as near to the kerb side as it is safe to do.

She replied saying that she would be nearing that in mind and would be 'monitoring' where the bin men replace the empty bins.

In support of our bin man who empties our work wheelie skip type bin; he comes to us from a very very big local commercial caravan site where he has often up to 60 of those things to empty by himself, many of which exceed the specified maximum weight. He does this on his own!

Only once did one of ours fail to lift ( someone had half filled it with soul ) and we had to give the lifting mechanism a hand. 😊

Hats off to him , ive done lots of trade work and it can be hard going , I used to do about 250 per day and I was a wreck by the end of it.

 

Ill be the first to admit that some crews arent great at putting bins back , but like I said , each resident has one rubbish bin per week to take care of , your average bin crew will have 2,000 per day and be doing it on the move.

I do one road that comes to mind , its around half a mile long and is the route taken by a blind lady when she does her daily shopping , every one of the residents on this road must know about the blind lady as not a single bin is ever left out on the pavement , when we empty the bins , every last green bin is returned to its original position , I watch my loaders like a hawk on this road , if they put one bin out of line they get sent back to put things right.

[Vince Green]

I still believe the answer to a lot of the problems is less packaging. Its ridiculous how overpackaged a lot of items are.

[Bazooka Joe]

these are for chips to be fitted , its so that your bin can be matched to your property , eventually , each bin will be weighed as its emptied , you will be charged by the kilo and the bill will be sent to you at your address , youll be free to put as much green waste and recycling into your bin as you wish as youll be paying for it , recycling your own waste correctly and closing the lid of your bin might then seem to be a better option , we can all kick and scream and threaten the binmen lol , but , this is still going to happen , get with it or be prepared to spend your hard earned cash on the alternatives.

 

 

Cannot help but think that councils are making a rod for their back TBH Mel,

 

there will be more fly tippping than enough to cope with going down that route.

[wymberley]

 

 

im not sure on this one , ill guess that the site that wouldnt accept it was privately run , they take nothing unless it can generate profit , just the same as any business really.

 

 

 

 

It was because my privately owned vehicle is classed as a commercial one. My argument is that its use defines its class. But, as said, rules is rules.

 

The site is one of the Bristol City Council ones. I know not who actually operates it, but if it is contracted out and the contractors won't accept anything which although fit for recycling won't make them any profit then perhaps come the contract renewal time and when they submit their tender, they go in at a lower figure to see if they then can make the desired profit. The problem then is that a more efficient business (just the same as any business really) can go in higher and still make the desired profit margin.

 

By the way, thanks for your input throughout - you've answered many queries.

[Lord Geordie]

Mel,

 

It's not the fact that bin wagons can't get down the street,

 

It's a full size wagon that collects the bags,

 

It's the fact that the houses physically have nowhere to store them, it was ok when we actually had bin sized bins, there is a place for them but not for the height of a wheels bin, on and only room for 1 bin,

 

A lot of the houses have bricked up the bin storage place as it is part of the kitchen on the inside, if they brick it up it gives then extra storage inside

 

We don't have a specific storage area for bins either, they sit just outside the front door!

 

Down the road from me is a huge complex of flats! They hae to store the bin in the rear of the property, and drag them through to the front for collection! Most just leave them on the front, despite threats of fines?

 

Most terraced pit houses I remember had a narrow back lane with yards to the rear of the property! I can only imagine they can't get the wagon down said lane!

 

But having wheels on your bin would aid in taking it down to a collection point!

 

I understand this is a little inconvenient, and to some "disabled, elderly" impossible "hence bin assist"

 

I remember in the 70s having to carry out waste over half a mile to a central area when the strikes were on! I think if I can carry my trash that far! Most could wheel it a few hundred yards

 

If your property has no space for a wheels bin, reguardless of it being front or rear! Then really the council need to one up with a solution! If try are offering a dumpster, it's better than turning their back on the problem! There are places locally that went with dumpsters! The lids sheer off the same as wheels bins, and unfortunately they draw in gulls, and other vermin. They also get rather ripe in the warm weather and attract wasps and flies! I think if you get a dumpster, you need to push for WEEKLY collections.

 

A lot of the problem is modern packaging! Plastic milk bottles, plastic bags for everything! Bread, fruit, eggs, meats, veg etc! We never had issues with glass milk bottles, and you got your other stuff in a brown paper bag! You also got the choose your own fruit and veg! Non of this perfect, unmarked mullarky!

 

We had a household of six and isn't fill the old metal bin in a week! All good waste such as fruit n veg was composted for the allotment! Newspapers and the brown paper bags etc were used for starting fires, now with the onset of plastic for everything, and everything being prepacked, it's became a nightmare!

 

We need to revert to reusable, and better for the environment materials!

 

Did you know you can NOT recycle a pizza box? Or chip trays etc due to them being contaminated with fats?

 

Certain plastic bags are NOT currently recycled due to costs!

 

There is all this harping on about recycling, and how it's the modern way! Funny really! When we washed and put the milk bottles out, took our cardboard egg trays back to the shops for a refill and reused our paper bags etc, we were recycling then too! And with a LOT less environmental impact as today's recycling!

[clumber]

Hugh fernley-whatshisface did a good insight into the packaging at Amazon recently and how they decide on the size of box an item goes into. He was asking about more sizes and shapes, they don't have tube style packaging!

 

The consumer is king. If we all demand less packaging the powers that be will sit up and take notice.

 

Mel, thanks for the insight of the job. I'm glad I don't have to deal with the public, not the best mood first thing!

[mel b3]

I still believe the answer to a lot of the problems is less packaging. Its ridiculous how overpackaged a lot of items are.

youre bang on the money , my last mobile phone came in a box that was big enough to take a toaster , inside that was a slightly smaller box , and inside that was the actual phone box , most of it is just down to sales jiggery pokery in the shops , most folks will go for the biggest looking bag of crisps etc , even though the bags are almost empty, government legislation was on the way to deal with packaging , but as yes ive seen no apparent difference.

going back just a couple of years to when we were still using black sacks with no limit , some crews would have houses that would put out 30 , yes 30 , bags of refuse every week , how the hell did they manage that lol.

i was on holiday one week but my lads took 40 bags from a property as it was christmas week(this was when we had a 3 bag limit), the following week this woman had 30 bags again , i said that the limit was 3 bags but ill take 10 to help her out , she then fetched her boyfriend to try and threaten me into taking all 30 bags , i took 3 bags and he got a wake up call.

 

 

Cannot help but think that councils are making a rod for their back TBH Mel,

 

there will be more fly tippping than enough to cope with going down that route.

the problem is that local authorities are genuinely flat broke and dont know which way to turn , fly tipping will definitely increase , but their will be nobody to clear the fly tipping , well just have to live in it.

lots of people (including lots of council workers) dont realise just how desparate the situation is.

 

It was because my privately owned vehicle is classed as a commercial one. My argument is that its use defines its class. But, as said, rules is rules.

 

The site is one of the Bristol City Council ones. I know not who actually operates it, but if it is contracted out and the contractors won't accept anything which although fit for recycling won't make them any profit then perhaps come the contract renewal time and when they submit their tender, they go in at a lower figure to see if they then can make the desired profit. The problem then is that a more efficient business (just the same as any business really) can go in higher and still make the desired profit margin.

 

By the way, thanks for your input throughout - you've answered many queries.

one of the big private waste companies , was looking to take over the waste management side of the local authority that i work for , they spent a bit of time looking into the business and walked away as their just wasnt any profit in it , were already running super lean and they had nothing that could be trimmed down to make a profit.

the private company that has taken over waste management in the borough that i live , has been trying desperately to get out of their contract as their losing money , the council is having none of it and is holding them in place with no further funding.

i would say that waste management is on a par with the oil industry at the moment , lots of people feeling pretty worried.

most of the waste industry (recycling) has been propped up by the government for some time now , now that the financial plug has been pulled the smelly brown stuff is getting blown through the fan at an amazing rate , local authorities are just the tip of the iceberg .

[mel b3]

We don't have a specific storage area for bins either, they sit just outside the front door!

 

Down the road from me is a huge complex of flats! They hae to store the bin in the rear of the property, and drag them through to the front for collection! Most just leave them on the front, despite threats of fines?

 

Most terraced pit houses I remember had a narrow back lane with yards to the rear of the property! I can only imagine they can't get the wagon down said lane!

 

But having wheels on your bin would aid in taking it down to a collection point!

 

I understand this is a little inconvenient, and to some "disabled, elderly" impossible "hence bin assist"

 

I remember in the 70s having to carry out waste over half a mile to a central area when the strikes were on! I think if I can carry my trash that far! Most could wheel it a few hundred yards

 

If your property has no space for a wheels bin, reguardless of it being front or rear! Then really the council need to one up with a solution! If try are offering a dumpster, it's better than turning their back on the problem! There are places locally that went with dumpsters! The lids sheer off the same as wheels bins, and unfortunately they draw in gulls, and other vermin. They also get rather ripe in the warm weather and attract wasps and flies! I think if you get a dumpster, you need to push for WEEKLY collections.

 

A lot of the problem is modern packaging! Plastic milk bottles, plastic bags for everything! Bread, fruit, eggs, meats, veg etc! We never had issues with glass milk bottles, and you got your other stuff in a brown paper bag! You also got the choose your own fruit and veg! Non of this perfect, unmarked mullarky!

 

We had a household of six and isn't fill the old metal bin in a week! All good waste such as fruit n veg was composted for the allotment! Newspapers and the brown paper bags etc were used for starting fires, now with the onset of plastic for everything, and everything being prepacked, it's became a nightmare!

 

We need to revert to reusable, and better for the environment materials!

 

Did you know you can NOT recycle a pizza box? Or chip trays etc due to them being contaminated with fats?

 

Certain plastic bags are NOT currently recycled due to costs!

 

There is all this harping on about recycling, and how it's the modern way! Funny really! When we washed and put the milk bottles out, took our cardboard egg trays back to the shops for a refill and reused our paper bags etc, we were recycling then too! And with a LOT less environmental impact as today's recycling!

the large steel wheelie type bins(1,100l) bins , can be fantastic , if every street had one of these , we could have a collection every day , the problems start when multiple people are using them (and ive seen this a thousand times) , it only takes one idle person that cant be bothered to lift the lid and throw their bag inside , they just dump it on top , and then every other bag goes on top of the bin and on the floor around the bin , you end up with a huge pile of carp with an empty bin underneath it , the bin crew will turn up and take one look at it and say , the residents have made that huge mess , let the residents clear it up , then just drive away , the residents will carry on throwing carp onto the pile and the binmen will just keep driving past , that when the rats , foxes , cats , flies , move in , the residents complain to the council , the council say its your own fault and well charge extra to clear it , private companies wont touch it , its a world of carp and misery just because one person cant be bothered to put their rubbish in the bin.

on the other side of the coin , ive seen maisonettes where one person has taken charge of the bin , a quick spray with disinfectant every morning and when its emptied and the jobs a goodun , ive even seen them painted with flowers etc and they look like a piece of street furniture and not at all out of place.

[mel b3]

i hope that ive helped you all have a bit of an insight into things , ive done my best to answer questions to the best of my limited knowledge.

 

i hope that some of you feel a bit less peeved at your binmen this week and i sincerely hope that i havent offended anyone .

 

all the very best .

 

mel.

[wymberley]

It was because my privately owned vehicle is classed as a commercial one. My argument is that its use defines its class. But, as said, rules is rules.

 

The site is one of the Bristol City Council ones. I know not who actually operates it, but if it is contracted out and the contractors won't accept anything which although fit for recycling won't make them any profit then perhaps come the contract renewal time and when they submit their tender, they go in at a lower figure to see if they then can make the desired profit. The problem then is that a more efficient business (just the same as any business really) can go in higher and still make the desired profit margin.

 

By the way, thanks for your input throughout - you've answered many queries.

That's a coincidence. Just watched the teletext news. It was contracted out and the firm lost it owing to concerns about the amount of waste going to landfill. A temporary arrangement was put in place but it's just been announced that a different system is now in place and is designed to hopefully reduce the amount of fly tipping.

[hawkeye]

Hi Mel thats for that took me back 50 years when i worked on the bins ( we covered Catterick Garrison) i used to go ahead and get the bins out some of the officers bins had hot ash in and they would have 3 or 4 bins

you had to carry them out to the road.. We worked up one side of the road then turned round and did the other side.. The wagon followed and another bloke and driver tipped the bins into lorry the other crew man followed on and

took them back.. You can take it from me them metal bins were bloody heavy you were knackered at the end of the shift..

And the wagon was on fire most of the time with hot ashes ....Tell you what we were fit in them days, when i left and started to work on building sites i thought i was on holiday they had it so easy in comparison..

[Lord Geordie]

i hope that ive helped you all have a bit of an insight into things , ive done my best to answer questions to the best of my limited knowledge.

 

i hope that some of you feel a bit less peeved at your binmen this week and i sincerely hope that i havent offended anyone .

 

all the very best .

 

mel.

When I moved into my current house, I washed my bin, disinfected it and had it smelling nice, my neighbour swapped bins! I thought perhaps it was just a mistake as they all look the same!

 

I took her bin as my own! Washed it out, disinfected it had it nice! Following week she did it again! I pulled her about it and got a mouthful! I gave a rather cheesy smile which hid my grimace!

 

I then bought stickers and numbered my bin!

 

Not long after that, the council put stickers on the bins with bar codes and house number and post codes! She was still at it! I marched into her garden and retrieved MY bin and dumped her nappies on the garden! Her bloke came flying out giving it verbal, I just laughed at him with his chest puffed out! Asked him if he was going to breathe out? Or just turn blue!

 

He sheepishly went back indoors and shut the door!

 

It never happened again after that! In fact it improved the tone between them and I. They invited me to a party they were holding! I declined as I don't do the swigging alcohol until 3am in a filthy garden!

 

But they were very polite from then on!

 

My friend had a similar issue. He moved into his house! Had a super large bin! Next week the neighbour nicked it and left him with a skinny thing! He said it didn't matter as it was easier to get in and out of the garden, and there was only him and the mrs!

 

You get some funny *******!

[mel b3]

Hi Mel thats for that took me back 50 years when i worked on the bins ( we covered Catterick Garrison) i used to go ahead and get the bins out some of the officers bins had hot ash in and they would have 3 or 4 bins

you had to carry them out to the road.. We worked up one side of the road then turned round and did the other side.. The wagon followed and another bloke and driver tipped the bins into lorry the other crew man followed on and

took them back.. You can take it from me them metal bins were bloody heavy you were knackered at the end of the shift..

And the wagon was on fire most of the time with hot ashes ....Tell you what we were fit in them days, when i left and started to work on building sites i thought i was on holiday they had it so easy in comparison..

That was back in the days when it was proper graft , you earned every last penny , things are much more civilised these days but still hard going.

[mel b3]

When I moved into my current house, I washed my bin, disinfected it and had it smelling nice, my neighbour swapped bins! I thought perhaps it was just a mistake as they all look the same!

 

I took her bin as my own! Washed it out, disinfected it had it nice! Following week she did it again! I pulled her about it and got a mouthful! I gave a rather cheesy smile which hid my grimace!

 

I then bought stickers and numbered my bin!

 

Not long after that, the council put stickers on the bins with bar codes and house number and post codes! She was still at it! I marched into her garden and retrieved MY bin and dumped her nappies on the garden! Her bloke came flying out giving it verbal, I just laughed at him with his chest puffed out! Asked him if he was going to breathe out? Or just turn blue!

 

He sheepishly went back indoors and shut the door!

 

It never happened again after that! In fact it improved the tone between them and I. They invited me to a party they were holding! I declined as I don't do the swigging alcohol until 3am in a filthy garden!

 

But they were very polite from then on!

 

My friend had a similar issue. He moved into his house! Had a super large bin! Next week the neighbour nicked it and left him with a skinny thing! He said it didn't matter as it was easier to get in and out of the garden, and there was only him and the mrs!

 

You get some funny *******!

The stories I could tell you about this , its always women that nick the neighbours clean bin for some reason , several times over the years weve had to pull women apart that were scrapping in the street , and I mean clothes ripped off and lumps of hair pulled out . to stop the row I explain that the bins are the property of the local authority and if they carry on rowing ill take the bins away and they can take their rubbish to the tip.

 

It was even worse when we used to deliver rolls of bin bags , residents would lie cheat and steal to get extra bags, it was shocking just how far peoole would .

 

Iirc , in 2012 or 2013 , we had complaints from over 3,000 properties that their roll of bin bags had been stolen from their doorstep or that we hadnt delivered them , at £8.00 a role its a very costly exercise , we would deliver the bags and watch neighbours steal each others bags , it was shocking to see , we would often go back and knock on the door and threaten to call the police if they didnt return them .

youd also be shocked to hear just what some women would offer for a £8.00 roll of bin bags , I could write a book lol.

[Lord Geordie]

The stories I could tell you about this , its always women that nick the neighbours clean bin for some reason , several times over the years weve had to pull women apart that were scrapping in the street , and I mean clothes ripped off and lumps of hair pulled out . to stop the row I explain that the bins are the property of the local authority and if they carry on rowing ill take the bins away and they can take their rubbish to the tip.

 

It was even worse when we used to deliver rolls of bin bags , residents would lie cheat and steal to get extra bags, it was shocking just how far peoole would .

 

Iirc , in 2012 or 2013 , we had complaints from over 3,000 properties that their roll of bin bags had been stolen from their doorstep or that we hadnt delivered them , at £8.00 a role its a very costly exercise , we would deliver the bags and watch neighbours steal each others bags , it was shocking to see , we would often go back and knock on the door and threaten to call the police if they didnt return them .

youd also be shocked to hear just what some women would offer for a £8.00 roll of bin bags , I could write a book lol.

Confessions of a bin man :lol:

 

Glad I wasn't offered a leg over by the neighbour! Would be like a nightmare on elm street "shudder"

[Scully]

Confessions of a bin man :lol:

 

Glad I wasn't offered a leg over by the neighbour! Would be like a nightmare on elm street "shudder"

 

Me too; he's very fat.

[mel b3]

 

Me too; he's very fat.

Some good lovin to be had with a fat lad yknow, well thats what I tell women anyway.

 

Atb,

Fatty :-).

[Scully]

Some good lovin to be had with a fat lad yknow, well thats what I tell women anyway.

 

Atb,

Fatty :-).