rubbish
Seems rubbish is in the news again. During the day there have been various people on the radio whinging about it and now there is a programme on TV all about it. Seems that a lot of people are missing the point…
Yes, the council changes are a pain in the arse but it’s not really their choice. We *are* running out of landfill (possibly less than 10 years) so we *have* to do something *now*. Here in Folkestone Shepway council changed our collection scheme a year or so ago. We now have a wheeliebin for landfill waste that is collected once a fortnight. We have a recycling box for plastic bottles, tins and glass that is collected every week and if you want one you can request a brown wheelie bin that is for compostable stuff and is collected fortnightly. We also have a big bag that is collected weekly for paper and cardboard.
Despite concerns this is working well now it has settled down. We produce more rubbish than we should (including loads of nappies) and we don’t see any of the problems that people are reporting. At the school this afternoon while collecting sprog1 people were chatting about this - and again, no one reports maggots or foul smelling bins. Everything that goes into our landfill bin is bagged and as long as the lid is shut the smell isn’t noticable (hits you a bit when you open the lid though:-) ) and as the flies can’t get in it really isn’t a problem. I can see that if you just tipped the rubbish into the bin without bagging it it would be a problem however.
Maybe we are just more used to not leaving bags out at all around here - any sign of a bin bag and the seagulls rip it open and spread the contents up the road so people are already used to this. Infact, before this scheme we just had to put out bags and storing them somewhere was a nightmare. At least this way we can stash them in the bin outside.
Of course, if you don’t have anywhere outside to keep a collection of bins (and many people won’t have I guess) then I can see it might be a problem - but then surely this is a problem anyway (just less so if the collections were weekly). Still, it is satisfying seeing just how much recycling we sort out and put out each week and we don’t exactly try all that hard.
As for bugging bins, yes, councils should have come clean and informed people what they were doing but it’s pretty hard to argue that people who produce huge amounts of rubbish shouldn’t pay more. It’s costing an increasing amout of cash to landfill so why should people who try to recycle subsidise those who can’t be bothered? Of course, it does mean that the fly tipping problem will increase but that’s a whole different problem. Certainly isn’t an excuse to not change the way rubbish is dealt with in this country.
blimey, that’s turned into a bit of a rant. I’ll stop now 
October 5th, 2006 at 7:44 am
Heh. In Canterbury we have been doing this for years.
Landfill goes in the wheelie bin, the council provides clear bags for recycling (plastic, paper, metal - no glass) and a bag or bin for garden waste.
Works really well - its rare that we fill a wheelie bin up in two weeks with waste.
Just end up with loads of glass to take to the bottle bank every few months which is a mild irritation.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:47 am
Ahh missed the bit about bugging bins, thats plain silly. Some houses will generate more rubbish than others - I bet it averages out to less than a bin every two weeks though if people are recycling properly.
PS: your spam thing keeps giving me the same total to add up to.
October 7th, 2006 at 11:49 am
I live in Ashford and they don’t collect rubbish from wheelie bins as far as I know. There is a fortnightly blue recycling box collection, and fortnightly green waste collection in some parts of the town.
A lot of new housing developments also have designated areas (receptacles) where residents are expected to put out their black bin bags on collection day.
I guess the council would have to foot the bill and issue all residents with their a new wheelie bin before they could consider changing the way they collect and recycle rubbish in the future.
October 7th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
Well, in Folkestone the council did foot the bill and gave every household a wheeliebin (and a garden waste one on request), a recycling box and a recycling bag.
Parents-in-law live in Willsborough and they certainly all have wheelie bins around there. not sure how it works though.