Just look at this mess.

[Vince Green]

On 07/08/2021 at 14:19, enfieldspares said:

The council here now charges for some waste to be taken to the council refuse tip and loads need to be booked and all other annoyances and hinderances. Then they wonder why folk fly tip. And the cost of clearing it falls on the landowner. 

We have to book in and can only go once in any week, Thats not good as I am clearing my mum's flat. I could go every day

[mel b3]

6 hours ago, Windswept said:

It's interesting to hear the other side of things. I agree people do dump stuff next to the recycling containers down here but that's either people on holiday (there's no general refuse bins nearby in the supermarkets) or, far more often, down to the fact the recycling containers are left to overflow. Last time I went in the glass bank was removed for emptying and no replacement was left. I would say the council are to blame for these problems, especially as they are gradually withdrawing any meaningful recycling from people.

Again I can only speak from my own knowledge.

We used skips that were big enough to carry at least a couple of weeks worth of recycling,  even in the busiest of areas , but they were still checked every week , because having a full skip,  meant waste being dumped on the floor.

Domestic recycling involves putting paper in one plastic sack, cardboard in another plastic sack and plastic in a flimsy plastic crate. (Interesting to hear that weighted bags exist, our council don't use them). The result of which is loads of plastic, card and paper blown all over the roads when it's windy and we're in a windy part of the country.

I really don't know why they wouldn't use a better system than this.

I don't think our council is interested in recycling, all refuse goes to an incinerator so I expect, unofficially, they want all plastic, paper and card, to be chucked in to be burnt.

Councils have no choice when it comes to collecting recycling.  Government recycling targets were set years ago , and they have no choice but to try and hit those targets . It costs us all a fortune , but has to be done.

What I find most strange is each individual district has it's own refuse and recycling set-up and they're all very different.

Again I would imagine that it's because recycling is relatively  new , and everyone is still learning.  It's changed massively over the last few years,  and in many cases , it's more more difficult than imagined.

 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, my son has 3 redundant bins and refuse company don't want them back, 

[Bobba]

Our recycling system seems to work well. Weekly collection of black box (glass), green box (plastic and tins), brown bin (food). Fortnightly collection of the black bin.    There is a garden waste bin at extra cost bu suspended at the moment due to lack of drivers. There are two recycling centres with odd / even car registration number plate days to even out the flow. I use the one at Avonmouth. Purpose built, it has a recycling shop (volunteers) and the guys that man it are really helpful. We store garden waste in one of those builders sand / gravel cubes ant take it there regularly. There can be glitches now and then on the whole it’s quite good. So a thank you to to all concerned.

Some of us grew up with recycling post war. We had an aluminium bin for pig food, a hessian sack for paper and cardboard. Bottles had deposits on them which made you return them. Milk bottles were washed out and put outside for daily milk delivery. Carrier bags were brown paper re-usable and fruit etc was placed in brown paper bags. No plastic, recycle-able. And a bin for what was left. 

[12gauge82]

12 hours ago, mel b3 said:

I can't speak for your local authority,  only the one that I work for.

Over my years working for the local authority , the amount of waste has grown massively , and the vehicles that collect it have also got much bigger to match . The local authority that I work for , operates a couple of smaller vehicles , to service the areas that can no longer be reached with the larger trucks (the massive increase in parked cars is also an issue). The downside , is that these smaller vehicles are extremely inefficient in comparison.  A large truck can empty approximately  2000 bins a day , but , the small trucks can only do approximately 400 . I can see a time when we'll be using articulated vehicles along big main roads , to keep up with the growing amount of waste produced.

We use no blow bags for the recycling , they're weighted bags that sit flat on the ground , and don't move unless the wind really blows hard.

My work has also removed the recycling skips from supermarkets,  the public are completely to blame for this . As soon as the first person is too lazy to put the waste in the skip , and drops their bag of recycling  on the floor , every following bag will just get dumped on top of it . Several times over the years , I've had to take a truck ,and loads tons of mixed refuse into the back of a lorry , and all its good for is landfill.  Some scruffy xxxxxxx will drop a whole van load of house/garden  clearance waste , on top of half a ton of glass that's been dumped on the floor , right next to an empty bottle bank .  You can't blame the council for not wanting to waste so much money clearing up every week. I've also seen plenty of recycling skips filled with just about everything except recyclable waste , and again , all its good for is landfill 

I sat in a meeting , and the idea was passed around that each property should have eight bins , so that all waste can be recycled.  That bright idea came from someone that was earning around 80k at the time 😅.

Brilliant, some smaller properties and the occupier would have to live on the street to house 8 bins 😂

[Mice!]

20 hours ago, mel b3 said:

lot of the problem , is that as a country , we just aren't used to recycling yet

I think that's Garbage Mel, 😅😅

Many  just can't be bothered with recycling or resent the charge for the green bins.

We have a large garden so with very little effort can easily fill two green bins, despite shredding waste,  much easier for it to go in the bin than hump it to the tip.

As for recycling,  look at the bags for life as a starting point,  they said we'll charge more so people won't bin them, lads I work with will still bin a bag for life every day without a second thought, so I very much doubt these lads in their twenties give a monkeys about recycling at home.

When you see the mess people leave at beaches and beauty spots after travelling with thousands of others to get there little surprises me these days unfortunately. 

[mel b3]

4 hours ago, Bobba said:

 

Some of us grew up with recycling post war. We had an aluminium bin for pig food, a hessian sack for paper and cardboard. Bottles had deposits on them which made you return them. Milk bottles were washed out and put outside for daily milk delivery. Carrier bags were brown paper re-usable and fruit etc was placed in brown paper bags. No plastic, recycle-able. And a bin for what was left. 

Now that's real recycling,  and in my honest opinion , is a much better way forward.

47 minutes ago, Mice! said:

I think that's Garbage Mel, 😅😅

Many  just can't be bothered with recycling or resent the charge for the green bins.

We have a large garden so with very little effort can easily fill two green bins, despite shredding waste,  much easier for it to go in the bin than hump it to the tip.

As for recycling,  look at the bags for life as a starting point,  they said we'll charge more so people won't bin them, lads I work with will still bin a bag for life every day without a second thought, so I very much doubt these lads in their twenties give a monkeys about recycling at home.

When you see the mess people leave at beaches and beauty spots after travelling with thousands of others to get there little surprises me these days unfortunately. 

You're right that lots of people just can't be bothered ,that's why local authorities have to force things.

I regularly see local authorities getting knocked for dirty town centres , or litter on grass verges etc , but the thing that nobody seems to consider,  is that the council didn't make the mess in the first place , the council is just trying to play catch up , and keep on top of the mess thats created by dirty xxxxxxx.

[discobob]

Isn't it the case though that in some European countries that they collect all the recyclables all together - 1 bin - 1 central point - and they have a much higher rate of recycling than the UK where most councils make it so you need a degree to understand their regulations

 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

3 minutes ago, discobob said:

Isn't it the case though that in some European countries that they collect all the recyclables all together - 1 bin - 1 central point - and they have a much higher rate of recycling than the UK where most councils make it so you need a degree to understand their regulations

 

That is what they do here in Peterborough.

A green bin takes all of the paper, cardboard, metal and plastic. This is collected and sorted taken to a central recycling centre.

The Black bin is for landfill or incineration. 

A small grey bin is for food waste and the brown bin (extra charge) is for garden waste.

This system works!

all are fortnightly collections apart from the food waste that is weekly.

[JohnfromUK]

One of the problems is that all the many councils do things differently.  In my local area - we only have two bins (although there is an extra cost option for a 'brown' bin).  They are emptied on alternate weeks.  We used to have a separate food waste bin, but that was discontinued.  You had to use special 'digestable' liners that you had to buy - and it seems that many people weren't.

Green - which is recyclables.  Glass - that is bottles, jars etc, all colours, but NOT window glass, ornamental glass, or Pyres high temperature glass.  Metals - being clean tins, foil trays, containers metal caps - but NOT electrical, heavier or solid items, and no batteries.  Paper and cardboard being card packaging and boxes, papers, but not books.  Plastics being clean bottles, cream/yoghurt containers, plastic trays - but NOT polythene, bags, film, or (and I'm a bit uncertain here) black plastics.  In other words - it is quite picky - and really quite hard to know for some items if they are/aren't acceptable.

Black - which is 'everything' else - but NOT garden waste, batteries, metals.

We can also send small type batteries by placing them in transparent bag on top of the black bin.

If you look at a food package, it usually says card - recyclable - plastics - may be recyclable in some areas. - so it can be hard to get right.

Optional is a Brown bin - which costs £50 per year per bin - and is emptied every other week.  It is quite small - and with garden waste (prunings etc.) being very seasonal - far from ideal.

Also optional is a 'bulky items' collection - which can include fridges/freezers, sofas, chairs, beds, mattresses.  It costs extra - but at present has been suspended.  I think last time I used it it was £25 minimum to cover two items, but not sure on that.

[mel b3]

1 hour ago, discobob said:

Isn't it the case though that in some European countries that they collect all the recyclables all together - 1 bin - 1 central point - and they have a much higher rate of recycling than the UK where most councils make it so you need a degree to understand their regulations

 

Many of the local authorities in this country also collect all recyclables in one bin( the authority that I live in does it , but not the one where I work) . It's easier and quicker to collect,  but , it's pretty much worthless . Companies will buy co mingle waste , but Pay next to nothing (and it's worth less and less all the time) .

I'm not sure if the situation is still the same , but a few years ago , Germany were digging landfill waste , back out of the ground . They were using it to burn in their incinerator plants , as they'd become so efficient at recycling , they hadnt  got enough waste to burn , and keep the plants running . They were also importing waste from the UK for the same reason.  A site that I used to tip at , we're sending waste that was wrapped like sillage , and they must have sent many thousands of tons that I saw. 

[discobob]

1 hour ago, mel b3 said:

Many of the local authorities in this country also collect all recyclables in one bin( the authority that I live in does it , but not the one where I work) . It's easier and quicker to collect,  but , it's pretty much worthless . Companies will buy co mingle waste , but Pay next to nothing (and it's worth less and less all the time) .

I'm not sure if the situation is still the same , but a few years ago , Germany were digging landfill waste , back out of the ground . They were using it to burn in their incinerator plants , as they'd become so efficient at recycling , they hadnt  got enough waste to burn , and keep the plants running . They were also importing waste from the UK for the same reason.  A site that I used to tip at , we're sending waste that was wrapped like sillage , and they must have sent many thousands of tons that I saw. 

But they actually have the plants (abroad) to separate the recycling into the relevant things - whereas in this country they (the majority anyway) don't??

[mel b3]

8 minutes ago, discobob said:

But they actually have the plants (abroad) to separate the recycling into the relevant things - whereas in this country they (the majority anyway) don't??

They have the plants in this country (my local authority owns one) , but many local authorities don't.  It's just cheaper to collect pre sorted waste, than it is to separate mixed waste . To my way of thinking , it would be better to make the financial commitment,  and build your own sorting site.