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Garden waste collection


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21 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,m in same area as you  and got a compost bin .It,s probably me but it is a waste of time takes 2-3 years to break down then only partly have to spread it on as a mulch Im not to far from recycling depo  so take it there 

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Hi Mel,

Im no brain surgeon either but when i asked the guy about were at "his" place of work I should put certian items for example small electric items I expect a half decent response. The unfortunate guy I asked just waved his hand about pointing to to entrance muttering something akin to the mating call of a gorilla. 

If the staff they employ can't deliver a service so simple as to help paying customers (I'm assuming he was actually being paid) then yes I am rude, but generally only to those that are rude to me. 

I do not fly tip and it's something that really annoys me, what makes it worse though is that i go to the trouble of taking rubbish to the required location only to be met with unnecessary obstacles like the guy in question. That kind of attitude only adds to the fly tipping problem this country has. 

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3 hours ago, squirrelhall said:

I,m in same area as you  and got a compost bin .It,s probably me but it is a waste of time takes 2-3 years to break down then only partly have to spread it on as a mulch Im not to far from recycling depo  so take it there 

As you say it takes a while but its working away all the time for free.

 

Blackpowder

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11 hours ago, mel b3 said:

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.

It was only bagged dog waste in my case, i have no problem with fortnightly collection but your bin could get a bit smelly during summer.

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My problem is why do i need to go to a recycling centre with my waste ? its a service i pay for and there's only 3 of us in the house 2 most of the time so i don't think our bins are particularly full but my real problem is the animals waste , it was a real problem when i had a garden but i've slabbed all the rear of the house garden so there's no garden waste now  so i can power wash it down to a drain i put it . and i power wash all my bins to stop the smell . But cutting the collections in the winter is of no use to me the animals still make the same amount of waste . Maybe im a cynic but if the council cant work with the budget they have stand down admit defeat and let somebody who can have a bash , but i feel the same about the government horses for courses  

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46 minutes ago, Bigbob said:

My problem is why do i need to go to a recycling centre with my waste ? its a service i pay for and there's only 3 of us in the house 2 most of the time so i don't think our bins are particularly full but my real problem is the animals waste , it was a real problem when i had a garden but i've slabbed all the rear of the house garden so there's no garden waste now  so i can power wash it down to a drain i put it . and i power wash all my bins to stop the smell . But cutting the collections in the winter is of no use to me the animals still make the same amount of waste . Maybe im a cynic but if the council cant work with the budget they have stand down admit defeat and let somebody who can have a bash , but i feel the same about the government horses for courses  

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. 

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I pay for my garden waste to be collected. If I recall it’s £45 a year and is picked up every second week aside from the end of December - End January. 

What does annoy me is when it is ‘missed’ usually followed by it wasn’t on the kerbside of which they are then informed it’s sat next to the general waste bin that is currently being emptied by another crew. 

We then go through the dance of it can be picked up anytime within the next 5 days. I have offered to leave the bin out a random 5 days either side of the usual collection as it’s obviously acceptable, this is usually met with the usual your bin Day is x .... of which I reply well they best come and pick it up then as it is x today. 

I have asked for a refund on the days they havnt collected but this has hit a dead end. 

Being a reasonable person I have offered to wait until the next scheduled collection to avoid the cost of re routing a truck and if I have excess to place it into a plastic box next to the bin for them to empty..... no sir you only pay for 1tip and that would be 2..... well you best get them out to empty it the then hadn’t you!

on principle I now put it out even if I put house flowers in just so they have to empty it. Occasionally they lift the lid and decided it’s not worth emptying. Guess what they have to come back. It’s not just me regular you will see them Back emptying a bin they have ‘missed’

Edited by ph5172
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15 minutes ago, squirrelhall said:

Aye but grass needs cutting weeds need pulling  it builds up quicker than it composts S H

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. 

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1 hour ago, mel b3 said:

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. 

This /\

  1. our collections are all by contractors and they are rubbish collectors alright?
  2. any excuse, including false excuses,  and they won't empty your bin
  3. they blank the whole road quite often, if the parking is a bit tight
Edited by Vince Green
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25 minutes ago, ph5172 said:

I pay for my garden waste to be collected. If I recall it’s £45 a year and is picked up every second week aside from the end of December - End January. 

What does annoy me is when it is ‘missed’ usually followed by it wasn’t on the kerbside of which they are then informed it’s sat next to the general waste bin that is currently being emptied by another crew. 

We then go through the dance of it can be picked up anytime within the next 5 days. I have offered to leave the bin out a random 5 days either side of the usual collection as it’s obviously acceptable, this is usually met with the usual your bin Day is x .... of which I reply well they best come and pick it up then as it is x today. 

I have asked for a refund on the days they havnt collected but this has hit a dead end. 

Being a reasonable person I have offered to wait until the next scheduled collection to avoid the cost of re routing a truck and if I have excess to place it into a plastic box next to the bin for them to empty..... no sir you only pay for 1tip and that would be 2..... well you best get them out to empty it the then hadn’t you!

on principle I now put it out even if I put house flowers in just so they have to empty it. Occasionally they lift the lid and decided it’s not worth emptying. Guess what they have to come back. It’s not just me regular you will see them Back emptying a bin they have ‘missed’

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.

 

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1 hour ago, mel b3 said:

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. 

Sounds like they were on the ball, compost needs to be moved around to aid the process, not just left sitting. The black Daleks we have are great for being out the way, but it slows things down.

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35 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

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.

 

All of ours are fitted with cameras and load bay cameras. 

This is also used to warn people about putting green waste in general 

They always say we will check with the crews.

Our road gets ‘forgotten ‘ as only 3 of us pay for collections and our street appears on the reverse of the street list and occasionally it isn’t turned over by the driver. 

Occasionally it’s becasuse someone has parked over the bin and it isn’t seen by the crew

Edited by ph5172
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59 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

This /\

  1. our collections are all by contractors and they are rubbish collectors alright?
  2. any excuse, including false excuses,  and they won't empty your bin
  3. they blank the whole road quite often, if the parking is a bit tight

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.

 

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21 minutes ago, ph5172 said:

All of ours are fitted with cameras and load bay cameras. 

This is also used to warn people about putting green waste in general 

They always say we will check with the crews.

Our road gets ‘forgotten ‘ as only 3 of us pay for collections and our street appears on the reverse of the street list and occasionally it isn’t turned over by the driver. 

Occasionally it’s becasuse someone has parked over the bin and it isn’t seen by the crew

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.

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35 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

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.

 

All the lads who work on our bins are very young, early 20s at the most, and all are Eastern European. I don't suppose that's a coincidence?

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On 12/01/2019 at 14:35, Dibble said:

Bit of a derail but can anyone recommend a Garden shreader that works, Its for curley willow and fruit tree branches so I can compost them.

Hi chaps. I’ve got a lot of sympathy, but, since getting a shredder last year, I’ve not had a problem.

From Screwfix, a Titan “silent” shredder for about a ton. 30kgs, even though it’s mostly made of plastic, and I’ve been astonished at how happily it munches through branches. It is slightly fussy - it prefers long straight branches, with little foliage, but, to be honest, it’s worth a little bit of tactical de-leafing just to enjoy the “om nom nom” sound of it chewing through it :lol: 

I use mine on a semi-professional basis, and, whilst it is doubtless slower than a petrol jobbie, it makes very little noise, and is portable (I lug it in and out of my pick-up at least a couple of times a week).

Absolutely recommend.

LS

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im so lucky in essex its free for green waste and food wast go in the same bin plus all dear skins guts and bones no dog feaces and i give the boys a crate of stella christmas   and six bottles every five or six weeks there are a team of three to each wagon that is houshold glass and green they all get the same treetment and i get an excelent service and i never get missedit dosent take a lot to say thankyou and put a smile on the bin mens faces rememberthey are out in all weather and doing a not so good job cheers len   ps im and never have been a bin colector

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34 minutes ago, Len2016 said:

im so lucky in essex its free for green waste and food wast go in the same bin plus all dear skins guts and bones no dog feaces and i give the boys a crate of stella christmas   and six bottles every five or six weeks there are a team of three to each wagon that is houshold glass and green they all get the same treetment and i get an excelent service and i never get missedit dosent take a lot to say thankyou and put a smile on the bin mens faces rememberthey are out in all weather and doing a not so good job cheers len   ps im and never have been a bin colector

Not "FREE" then?

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5 hours ago, Len2016 said:

im so lucky in essex its free for green waste and food wast go in the same bin plus all dear skins guts and bones no dog feaces and i give the boys a crate of stella christmas   and six bottles every five or six weeks there are a team of three to each wagon that is houshold glass and green they all get the same treetment and i get an excelent service and i never get missedit dosent take a lot to say thankyou and put a smile on the bin mens faces rememberthey are out in all weather and doing a not so good job cheers len   ps im and never have been a bin colector

and that gentlemen , is how to get the executive service :yes:.

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.

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