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Garden waste collection


Hamster
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It was only a few years ago when our local council decided that it was suddenly an excellent idea to skip weekly collection of the main grey bin which during warmer months at least can present a health hazard in certain situations. Now I've just found that they've arbitrarily and without any warning or consultation decided that we don't need to have our garden waste collected during January and February !

Four different people passed me from pillar to post (no option given to speak to a garden waste dept, surprise surprise) before someone was prepared to take my number and pretend the "contracts manager" will be in touch after Monday; said chap also reckoned they had no statutory obligation to collect green waste and that the contractors who do the other waste collection were effectively doing it for "free" 😄, of course they are I said, there must be a queue of firms wanting to spend tens of millions on machinery, staff and infrastructure to collect and dispose of grass and tree clippings for the sheer fun of it. 🤭 So you don't think they'd have factored that into their sums when they bid and "won" these contract then !? Yes they must have he said, so we do pay for it then I said. 

To me this is just another one of those soft corruptions where contracts are won on fake and vague premise and the tax payer is left with zero recourse to complain. 

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We pay for fortnightly garden waste collection, but they seem to arbitrarily miss collections over the winter. Irritating, because ours is stuffed at the moment with the Christmas tree and SWMBO wants to weed the veggie patch.

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Our garden waste bin went from fortnightly all year  to monthly  december till march    which is a pain as i put all my ferret shavings in there and it stinks of ammonia  and can have a few maggots but nowhere nearly as bad as the fortnightly pick up . ( the council operator said it was fine as long as there was no meat waste in it so i put all the carcasses and dog poo in a double bag and put that in the landfill bin , Which is half the size of the other 3 ( no doubt so they can save money )  and that does have a few maggots but the collectors never moan about it . But it means i have to take all the household waste to the recycling centre  but im not taking bags of poo etc in the jeep as im paying my poll tax 

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Not had garden waste collected here for years and years, perhaps as long ago as 10 years even.  Asked for and got compost bin from council where all uncooked food waste goes.  Composting is the way forward.  If you produce garden waste you have a garden. If you have a garden you have room for a compost bin.  If you have a garden you need compost, easy peasy.

 

Blackpowder

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My brown bins full of logs, and the blue one full of kindling. 

The grey bin?  well its full of all-sorts. 

Ive seen the recycling process at the local amenity site, its a laugh.And I was going to be charged for dropping off a couple of bags of compo and broken roof tiles after having the roof re-tiled, £3 a bag for going to the trouble of taking it to the approved place, why not dump it in the nearest field gateway for free? I see enough gateways on my rounds. 

I asked some odd bod that seemed to have a genetic mis-match down at the local tip,(he did actually look human, 2 arms 2 legs a head and all that but defo something was not quite as it should be) If he realised they are promoting fly tipping, and i really dont think that he had the slightest what the comment was about. 

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Ours is bi weekly and stops  during November through to April. We live in a conservation area which has lots of mature oaks etc so no leaf collection. My plot is a third of an acre and the grass has been growing all winter so far plus I have six foot holly and privet hedges all round the back garden. Challenging the collectors " We are only paid to collect grass during the summer"

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Not collecting during January and February is purely money saving.

We now get charged £30 per year, but that's a bargain considering what we put in the brown bin during the year, compost what we can or want to but its amazing how much stuff you can put in a wheelie bin once you've shredded it.

4 hours ago, Bigbob said:

Our garden waste bin went from fortnightly all year  to monthly  december till march    which is a pain as i put all my ferret shavings in there and it stinks of ammonia  and can have a few maggots but nowhere nearly as bad as the fortnightly pick up . ( the council operator said it was fine as long as there was no meat waste in it so i put all the carcasses and dog poo in a double bag and put that in the landfill bin , Which is half the size of the other 3 ( no doubt so they can save money )  and that does have a few maggots but the collectors never moan about it . But it means i have to take all the household waste to the recycling centre  but im not taking bags of poo etc in the jeep as im paying my poll tax 

As for smelly shavings and dog poo, bin bag it and put it in your nearest street bin which the council will empty, i did this with dog waste, but after dark to avoid strange looks 🤢

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2 hours ago, Mice! said:

Not collecting during January and February is purely money saving.

We now get charged £30 per year, but that's a bargain considering what we put in the brown bin during the year, compost what we can or want to but its amazing how much stuff you can put in a wheelie bin once you've shredded it.

As for smelly shavings and dog poo, bin bag it and put it in your nearest street bin which the council will empty, i did this with dog waste, but after dark to avoid strange looks 🤢

With 12 ferrets and 2 lurchers  i would be filling quite a few street bins LOL 

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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.

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18 hours ago, Hamster said:

It was only a few years ago when our local council decided that it was suddenly an excellent idea to skip weekly collection of the main grey bin which during warmer months at least can present a health hazard in certain situations. Now I've just found that they've arbitrarily and without any warning or consultation decided that we don't need to have our garden waste collected during January and February !

Four different people passed me from pillar to post (no option given to speak to a garden waste dept, surprise surprise) before someone was prepared to take my number and pretend the "contracts manager" will be in touch after Monday; said chap also reckoned they had no statutory obligation to collect green waste and that the contractors who do the other waste collection were effectively doing it for "free" 😄, of course they are I said, there must be a queue of firms wanting to spend tens of millions on machinery, staff and infrastructure to collect and dispose of grass and tree clippings for the sheer fun of it. 🤭 So you don't think they'd have factored that into their sums when they bid and "won" these contract then !? Yes they must have he said, so we do pay for it then I said. 

To me this is just another one of those soft corruptions where contracts are won on fake and vague premise and the tax payer is left with zero recourse to complain. 

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.

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18 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Our local Authority made the decision to charge for the garden waste collection (£49 pa) and then wondered why people were dumping theirs in the local countryside.

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.

18 hours ago, prem1234 said:

Yes same here it's £52 a year for bi-weekly collection but it was so successful they are not taking any more clients but you can go on the waiting list !!

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.

18 hours ago, amateur said:

We pay for fortnightly garden waste collection, but they seem to arbitrarily miss collections over the winter. Irritating, because ours is stuffed at the moment with the Christmas tree and SWMBO wants to weed the veggie patch.

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.

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17 hours ago, Bigbob said:

Our garden waste bin went from fortnightly all year  to monthly  december till march    which is a pain as i put all my ferret shavings in there and it stinks of ammonia  and can have a few maggots but nowhere nearly as bad as the fortnightly pick up . ( the council operator said it was fine as long as there was no meat waste in it so i put all the carcasses and dog poo in a double bag and put that in the landfill bin , Which is half the size of the other 3 ( no doubt so they can save money )  and that does have a few maggots but the collectors never moan about it . But it means i have to take all the household waste to the recycling centre  but im not taking bags of poo etc in the jeep as im paying my poll tax 

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 👍.

16 hours ago, Gu5 said:

Just put it all in the garden waste in the general bin until they start collecting again. 

That's what many people do , it's the wrong thing to do really, but it's often the easiest way. 

16 hours ago, yod dropper said:

Peak pruning time as well Hamster. We pay for ours and worth the money as I can't compost or burn everything. Usually miss one around Christmas time but otherwise okay.

I get your soft corruption but it may be the council and the provider have come to an arrangement.

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.

 

16 hours ago, Blackpowder said:

Not had garden waste collected here for years and years, perhaps as long ago as 10 years even.  Asked for and got compost bin from council where all uncooked food waste goes.  Composting is the way forward.  If you produce garden waste you have a garden. If you have a garden you have room for a compost bin.  If you have a garden you need compost, easy peasy.

 

Blackpowder

I fear that many local authorities will stop green waste collections altogether, it's a very costly ,and none essential service. 

15 hours ago, Dougy said:

My brown bins full of logs, and the blue one full of kindling. 

The grey bin?  well its full of all-sorts. 

Ive seen the recycling process at the local amenity site, its a laugh.And I was going to be charged for dropping off a couple of bags of compo and broken roof tiles after having the roof re-tiled, £3 a bag for going to the trouble of taking it to the approved place, why not dump it in the nearest field gateway for free? I see enough gateways on my rounds. 

I asked some odd bod that seemed to have a genetic mis-match down at the local tip,(he did actually look human, 2 arms 2 legs a head and all that but defo something was not quite as it should be) If he realised they are promoting fly tipping, and i really dont think that he had the slightest what the comment was about. 

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.

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14 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

Ours is bi weekly and stops  during November through to April. We live in a conservation area which has lots of mature oaks etc so no leaf collection. My plot is a third of an acre and the grass has been growing all winter so far plus I have six foot holly and privet hedges all round the back garden. Challenging the collectors " We are only paid to collect grass during the summer"

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. 

13 hours ago, Mice! said:

Not collecting during January and February is purely money saving.

We now get charged £30 per year, but that's a bargain considering what we put in the brown bin during the year, compost what we can or want to but its amazing how much stuff you can put in a wheelie bin once you've shredded it.

As for smelly shavings and dog poo, bin bag it and put it in your nearest street bin which the council will empty, i did this with dog waste, but after dark to avoid strange looks 🤢

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.

10 hours ago, Bigbob said:

With 12 ferrets and 2 lurchers  i would be filling quite a few street bins LOL 

 

7 hours ago, bruno22rf said:

Wait till the plastic bins that you were forced to have split - you have to buy new ones - around here £160 for the set of 3 with a 6 week wait time.

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.

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21 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

How long until the threat of a tracker and the individual weighing of each bin followed by a "bespoke" bill surfaces again?

People will return to dumping stuff anywhere they can if refuse is not removed regularly and from within the Council tax fees we already pay.

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. 

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1 hour ago, walshie said:

We had someone fly tip in our lane a couple of weeks ago. 2 black bags and an empty cardboard box. Incredible as the bin men take anything and everything we leave out. The mrs collected them and put them with ours on bin day. 

That must be really annoying,  but it's probably the easiest and most sensible solution. 👍

1 hour ago, Vince Green said:

Garden waste collection is £79 pa here and right now, most of the time, it just goes in the back of the same dustcart as the general waste collection. Only in summer do they seem to collect it in a separate cart. 

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.

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