Rubbish

[caddyman]

There is an article on the BBC News website suggesting that people are now generally supportive of charges for disposing of rubbish, particularly charges where there is more than usual or no recycling.

Well… yes, but…

Firstly we already pay the council handsomely to take the rubbish away. I know that then council provides other services, lots of them, but frankly apart from the waste disposal and street lighting/maintenance, I don’t use the rest directly, though I acknowledge the indirect benefits of the various environmental health departments that make it so much harder for local restaurants to poison me with salmonella and rat droppings and so forth.

If waste management is handled properly, a council should be able to turn a profit on the disposal of recycled waste and they should approach it from that angle rather than squeezing yet more cash from the rate payer. All the council should have to do is provide the facilities, such as green bins for bio-waste, black bins for general waste and maybe arrange collections for plastics and metal, which can go in the same bin, frankly. It’s a myth that you need to separate them out since anyone who has ever seen a recycling company collect stuff is aware that it all gets thrown in together after you have carefully sorted it and the machines at the recycling centre shake it all up: the metals go to the bottom, the plastics come to the top et voilà, it’s sorted. Just go down the back of your eco-minded place of employment and watch the buggers collect the rubbish. You’ll see what I mean.

Furtle and I attempted to get an extra bin for the Carpathia. Barnet Council wanted to charge £50 for the additional bin and threatened never to collect our rubbish in any form ever again if we didn’t use it properly. We decided not to take advantage of their generous scam and continue to overload our existing bin. A bin, I might add that we share with our landlords downstairs and which allows no facility for recycling. If we want to recycle, we have to do it ourselves and remove the rubbish down to the various bottle banks and card/paper collection points. So, generally speaking, we don’t. But if we had a green bin, we probably would.

Manufacturers too, need to be aware. It’s all very well charging the general public for waste disposal, but much of that waste is generated by the marketing culture that insists on packaging your new toothbrush in a cellophane-covered box big enough to get your head in. It’s unnecessary and lazy of them. Cut down on packaging and a lot of waste will never be generated. They could probably flog stuff cheaper, too.

Anyway the point is, any charges for waste removal should be looked at carefully. If the facilities are there and they should be, recycle. If the facilities are not, then we should not be charged extra for not receiving the service we are already paying for.

Comments

[barrettyman.livejournal.com]

I always think its interesting that these changes tend to result in us getting charged more for worse service.

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

It depends on your council. I have heard of councils who openly admit to doing the least necessary to avoid a fine on recycling and bin collection, at the other end of the scale our council (Mid Beds) take all our rubbish away quickly and efficiently, give us bags and will pick up all recyclables - (except glass) from our doorstep. They rock.

"Manufacturers too, need to be aware. It’s all very well charging the general public for waste disposal, but much of that waste is generated by the marketing culture that insists on packaging your new toothbrush in a cellophane-covered box big enough to get your head in. It’s unnecessary and lazy of them. Cut down on packaging and a lot of waste will never be generated. They could probably flog stuff cheaper, too."

This I agree with, if we are to be charged then we must have the choice on packageing. Sadly no manufacturer will move first on dumping/cutting back as they fear loss of sales so I think this is an ideal spot for legislation. Everyone would benefit, less rubbish for us, less materials used and lower costs for business but it's one of those area where a shove from government would help.

[ellefurtle.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have the nerve to remove all the excess packaging at the supermarket like some do. It would save us some room in our shared bin! It's annoying that if you move into a new place and it has no bin, you have to pay for one to be delivered. 1 chance only per house/flat it seems.

Everywhere else round our way has the blue/black boxes, but flats tend not to. I guess it's just more hassle to sort out.

[fredlums.livejournal.com]

When we moved in here I reported the bin as being broken (which indeed it was) and was told by this rather officious woman on the phone that we couldn't have a new one! Next day I found a brand new wheelie bin on the drive courtesy of the council- we haven't had a bill yet (that was 5 years ago).

Our council did a survey on rubbish and recycling recently and it came out that people wanted weekly collections and the facility to recycle cardboard and plastic (we already have paper, glass and cans) and indeed this is what is happening. The weekly collections continue (but we can't have side waste now) and the cardboard and plastic recycling is being phased in across the area and is due to arrive in our road next April. I don't as such have a gripe with our council as they seem to do a pretty good job on the whole.

I do take issue with the amount of packing for various items although did see an advertisement in a magazine that said selection boxes were going to be in smaller boxes this year (less packaging) being cynical I suspect this just means small chocolates and less of them!

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

When we moved into The Groove Shack four and a half years ago, I went to Home Depot and jolly-well bought a big plastic bin. It cost much less than fifty quid, in fact about fifteen dollars if I recall. Will they not allow you to do that?

[ladkyis.livejournal.com]

Our council has given us a green lidded wheelie bin for all the non recyclable rubbish, collected every two weeks. An orange lidded bin for cardboard and garden waste collected every two weeks - the opposite week to the other bin.
A square, blue box with a lid in which we put paper of all kinds except envelopes with windows, clothing and shoes, shredded paper.
a square green box for glass, tins, aluminium, plastic bottles.
We still have to take plastic bags and tetrapaks to the tip and put them into the special containers. And we have to take wood, and metal objects and electrical stuff to the tip too.
The council are at present phasing in the separate collection of food waste. They did try this once before but there were some (sounds like) bankers who put things like car batteries and old TV sets into the bin with the cardboard and food waste so Wormtech cancelled their contract and said that the council had to do something. They now refuse to take the bin of it is contaminated with the wrong rubbish and if you don't remove the stuff from the bin and dispose of it properly they will fine you.
I tell people who moan to go to Belle Vue Park and look out towards the docks and see the nice new hill that we have behind them. This is the tip and it is full it is also 60 feet tall and looks very imposing where there used to be marshland - can you imagine what is seeping through the ground there?
We are supposed to achieve 40% recycling by 2012 (I think) and our council are already close to that figure. People are getting used to doing it now and as more people get into the habit they will set a standard for their neighbours - just takes time.
I have been making Morsbags, see www.morsbags.com to reduce the number of plastic carriers