I say southwark - fortnightly bin collections

[James Barber]

Hi Saila,

If you can rinse without using hot water or much water that's ideal.

Hi *bob*,

The quote you've read from me is related to some streets having a mix of neighbours in the pilot and not in the pilot. so some houses next to each other will have fortnightly 'residual' waste colelctions and others weekly. Some will get knocks onthe door if they don't recycle food waste while neighbours on the dsame street wont.

when recyclnig was weekly i like many would see the neighbours put out blue boxes and then remembers. Well on mixed up streets that will cause chaos and potentially ill feeling to boot.

Nothing clever about a pilot that aims to test whether the easiest possible homes can recycle food waste. it been dones in hundred of authorities up and down the country. Usually with real consultation and much better executution.

[The Minkey]

I find it hard to believe that those who don't put any food waste out will get a knock on the door when people who don't currently recycle anything at all aren't prompted.

[charliecharlie]

Dear James,

Firstly thanks you for your input, as I have mentioned, our street is a pretty tricky one as we are a path and have no road access, plus we only have tiny garden spaces that face on a path so we have nowhere to tuck away bins etc... we already struggle to keep the minute gardens free of extraneous clutter/bins etc... when I called the dept. managing the pilot scheme they did not appear to know the configuration of the street, or know the street at all for that matter... I suspect no one had had a look to understand the constraints... so

1. I am going to suggest that someone visits to get a better undersatnding of the space (Southwark have given our street loads of awards for 'greening' and green spaces... and seem to hold us up as some sort of 'showcase' street yet on the other hand... well you get it!)

2. I am also going to suggest that they consider a Borough wide scheme (as they have in Spain and many other European countries) and that they put a green/food waste large bin along side other large recycling bins (eg the type they have in the Sainsbury's car park), which are emptied each day... most people, in the town in Spain I know well, use the bins every day for household green waste. The bins are designed to prevent animals getting in and prevent large bags being put in... seems to work there..

What do you think of this as an idea James??

3. I've got plenty of other ideas which I will pass on and am encouraging those in our street to send in their ideas and opinions... always good in my opinion, not to roll over and accept second best (especially as it may then be rolled out borough wide!!)

[BornAgainSELondoner]

I've come in late to this discussion, so I'll say only this:

I'm with *Bob*.

[James Barber]

Hi The Minkey,

Southwark has a team of five people people who will be knocking on doors to helping people adjust to the new recycling regime.

Hi CharlieCharlie,

Those ideas sound great - but the pilot starts today. I don't get the feeling they'll want to change now. If they did then theri would have been a public consultation. Their certainly was a one month warning the scheme was coming but no public consultation.

[charliecharlie]

James, I am suggesting that feedback from those in the pilot scheme, will help to positively influence the scheme for borough wide implementation of food waste collect.. let's hope so anyway, otherwise there is no point in a pilot scheme!!!

ps I have decided I am going to use my small caddy as my 'wheelie bin' for outside as I am sure that will be more than big enough for my weekly food waste... will add a bit of 'dead-heading' stuff to it and use brown paper bags for my garden waste..

[Peckhampam]

Has any one found a way of using the recyclable bags provided inside the browm mini bin??? I can't work out how to use it as it is too small to be attached round the rim in any way.???

[James Barber]

Hi Peckhampam,

The biodegradeable rolls of bags are meant to be used in the brown Caddies. So presume they fit in them but feel foolish I didn't ask to witness that myself. So if you're trying to use them on the 23 litre brown bin - size of a tall office waste bin then you wont be able to.

If you need a kitchen caddy get in quick by dialling 020 7525 2000 asI'm reliably told only 1,000 ready for delivery and another 2,000 on order to cover the 10,000 homes.

[The Nappy Lady]

James - Southwark now say there is no cap on the Cloth Nappy Voucher Scheme at the moment, so anyone in Southwark with a child under 18 months may apply for the ?40 voucher (& it is per child, not per family).

It seems the person in charge was away last week, hence the confusion. :-\

[Peckhampam]

James-I have a mini brown caddie and they don't come anywhere near fitting it! Further advice would be much appreciated

[The Nappy Lady]

My bags fit inside the caddy - will take a photo for you & post so you can check to see if yours look any different.

[pearl1]

Like CharlieCharlie, I live on a development of homes that have no front gardens.

Our house, whilst accommodating four adults, is very small!

Fortunately we are not part of this scheme because we would have to leave all the bins in the street, including the food waste caddy as I wouldn't really want the caddy full of food waste in my tiny,tiny kitchen for a week.

If this scheme eventually runs across the borough, it could be difficule for some of us, or unfair on those who do not have to join it.

Just thoughts - not definitely against the proposal...

[The Nappy Lady]

As promised, images of the biodegradable bag inside the kitchen caddy. You have to stretch it just slightly to fit around the rim of the bin, but it really isn't difficult at all. I put it on the back first, then pull over the front rim.

Feedback so far -

My main kitchen bin (2 x 30litres) - 1 side recyling, 1 side general waste looks like it will now go 2 weeks without needing the waste side to be emptied. All it has in it really are the plastic wrappers off some food, and nectarine stones which I don't think can go in the food caddy (can they??). Not only will it be great not to need to empty it so often, but it will not get smelly now as no food is loitering in it. The recyling side still fills up fast, but is much quicker to deal with now I can tip it all straight into the blue boxes without sorting. I had 2 blue boxes and a bag previously (1 blue box was for glass and was rarely more than a third full, I have almost filled the 2 blue boxes this week (collection Wednesday), but don't think I will need the bag any more).

The kitchen caddy is great - secure lid so no smells. Easy to use - did a big Sunday roast and had it right next to me whilst peeling potatoes, cracking eggs for the dessert etc. and just chucked the food scraps straight in - brilliant. It is relatively small, so I don't think it will take too long to fill up - probably less likely to get smelly than my main kitchen bin to be honest (and that only happens in the hotter weather really anyway). I admit I haven't put any bones or fish skin in there yet, and I do have a dog, who consumes a certain amount of food waste, but it is great to feel like the rest is going to be turned into something that can be used again....

I know there will need to be some thought into how to make this work for those who don't have a front garden, I can understand the issue (ours is very small and we struggle). One thought - I assume these people have a 'green' (i.e. general waste) dustbin at the moment, though not sure where you keep it? Having seen how little general waste we are now producing I'd like to think that eventually people could have a brown bin for garden and food waste, and some sort of recycling boxes (or whatever), and that far fewer green bins would be needed. For special situations - where you're having a big spring clean/moving house etc. maybe you could request an additional bin from Southwark for this purpose, rather than having one there all the time with barely a thing in it?

Not suggesting this is the perfect answer, but people must have a bin of some sort already, and maybe we should be thinking about replacing rather than adding to the number of receptacles each house has?

Re the kitchen caddy - my plan is to try keeping it outside the back door in the summer if need be, rather than in the kitchen if it proves to be a problem. I guess only time will tell. Maybe it will need to be emptied more regularly, I presume Southwark will provide extra bags if this is necessary? James - can you find out about this, just to put minds at rest?

[Peckhampam]

Nappy lady-thanks. I thought the bin which was delivered was the kitchen caddy but clearly not. I will ring for one tomorrow.

Cheers

[Terry Thomas esq]

I say, those delightful people at Southwark have gotten themselves a rather top notch idea for public surgery

Apparently the bounders will be in the Herne Pub on the evening of the 22nd October (a Friday night none the less)

Spiffing Idea chaps

Champagne on Southwark - rather !!

[James Barber]

Hi The Nappy Lady,

A lot of frantic running around gettting The Real Nappy people to change their website to have no limits on the number of Southwark residents who can get a real nappy voucher.

Your input and my resulting query made this happen. So well done.

I've asked about fuit stones and whether they count as food waste.

People who don't have a front garden are not in the pilot. So that for now isn't a problem.REducing green bins sounds possible until you consider the fortnghitly collections.

Extra biodegradeable bags will be provided and you can order more by calling 020 7525 2000.

Hi Peckhampam,

I think what you think is the brown caddy is actually the 23Litre brown bins. Hence why The Nappy Lady doesn't have this problem as she's using the actual brown caddy.

[James Barber]

On Friday I asked for the pilot to be givem prominence on the Southwark website. Just checked and it now has been. Before it was quite well hidden.

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/

[James Barber]

As homes in the pilot will have green wheelie bin/s, brown bin/s and often have multiple blue bags and boxes a couple of residents - PeckhamGateCrasher and Fuschia - asked if they could swap blue bags and boxes for one blue wheelie bin. Peckhamgatecrashere in a pilot area has received her blue wheelie bin, but unfortunately Fuschia outside the pilot areas wont.

Southwark officers have agreed a change in policy so that homes in the pilot areas can swap blue bags and boxes for blue wheelie bins. To order your blue wheelie bin please call 020 7525 2000. Any problems let me know.

[Greengod]

im sorry people but i am as green and caring for our earth as most, that is why i feel i need to let people know that recycling is not good practice. i know this is hard for people to grasp since it goes against what weve been doing but please read up

On a purely statistical basis recycling causes as much pollution as it intends to save.

[www.youtube.com] In the show they asserted that the production of reusing the materials to make new things actually creates more pollution than just making something new from scratch.

carbon to transport to the dump, where they?re put into a skip. It now takes 3 times more lorries to collect the separated rubbish than it used to take to collect unseparated rubbish Then a lorry comes along, picks up the skip, and drives (carbon, carbon) to the docks where the bottles are poured into containers and loaded onto a ship which steams halfway around the world (CARBON! CARBON!) to China, where they all get ?recycled?.

You know what happens in China? There?s actually not much of any use that you can make out of waste plastic ? it?s no good for food, so you can?t make new bottles out of it ? so half of it gets burned right away on huge, stinking bonfires ? so there goes our clean air. The other half gets shredded, drawn, and eventually rendered down into clothes (fleeces, blankets, and so on), loaded back on a ship, and sent (CARBON! CARBON!) back here, so we can wear our garbage.

And when our garbage clothes eventually wear out? What then? We throw them away (because not even the Chinese can think of anything to do with old woollies). It goes into landfill (because, remember, you can?t burn it). And says there for ? you have been listening, haven?t you? ? 24,000 years! Did you know that 75% of non-biodegradable landfill is clothes? So it ends up as landfill anyway, in spite of all that transportation and processing.

In fact, except for materials like metal and some glass, recycling is almost always bad for the environment.

Need proof? There is actually a lot. One of the best places to start is with a report from PERC.org, called the Eight Great Myths of Recycling; you can find a copy at [people.clemson.edu]

"One argument made for recycling notes that we live on a finite planet. With a growing population, we must, it seems, run out of resources. Whether the resource in question is trees, oil, or bauxite, the message is the same: The only way to extend the lives of natural resource stocks is by more recycling."

"In fact, we are not running out of natural resources.While recycling has the potential to extend the lives of raw material stocks, other activities, long practiced in the private sector, are already doing that. Available stocks of those resources are actually growing, and there is every reason to expect such growth to continue if the private sector is allowed to continue performing its functions."

Consider forests. The amount of new growth that occurs each year in forests exceeds by a factor of twenty the amount of wood and paper that is consumed by the world each year. Perhaps partly as a result, temperate forests, most of which are in North America, Europe, and Russia, actually have expanded over the last 40 years."

You get the idea. What the paper is referring to is the fact that paper production has actually increased the number of tress being planted in the world for one argument about this point).

Paperless world Kindles ect will in fact kill tress

Conversely, (and here is where recycling can hurt the environment) because of paper recycling we are actually planting fewer trees, and since paper recycling is a toxic manufacturing process, it releases damaging chemicals into the environment.

Landfills Provides a "Green" Energy Source

The gases produced by a landfill can be used in place of non-renewable sources for generating electricity. The recovery can be used to replace coal and natural gas to generate water vapor to power electrical turbines. This makes it a renewable energy source. A landfill can produce enough gas to provide energy for a couple thousand homes. Since all landfill produce methane, landfill gas is truly a renewable source of energy.

So the new Southwark scheme with separate food collection will cause more people to recycle which is not good.

[Gussy]

That's great James, I've just asked for a blue wheelie bin as I have loads of recycling each week. I'll be honest I was a bit sceptical about it but I've quite quickly got into the new routine of food waste recycling, so finding it all ok so far.

[elloriac]

I'm still struggling to get my 23L brown bin. Despite requesting one when the pilot was announced, I was delivered a huge brown bin. When I asked for it to be swapped, it was promptly taken away and we still haven't received the 23L bin. I sent a reminder email yesterday after having to put out my food bags 'naked' for collection, I came home tonight to find that I had been left a little brown kitchen caddy. Which I don't need, as we have one already. So have sent another email requesting that they collect the kitchen caddy and bring me my 23L bin! So that'll be 4 visits to bring me one bin and some compostable bags then, very efficient! *sigh*

[sallyw]

I think this is a terrible idea, not at all convenient. I guess people are now all supposed to recycle which is not very nice for the third world countries where we ship all are plastic and other rubbish to, not too mention carbon footprint this leaves.

[The Minkey]

"I think this is a terrible idea, not at all convenient." You're not my mum, are you?

[sallyw]

I am a mum who cares about the damage recycling is causing and believe we should become eduacted and not just follow what we told is right I agree with some of what is being said here recycling is bad not all of it but recycling is not the magic solution Shipping our plastic to third world countries to deal with just to make us feel better is not a great plan. Think carbon people

[sophiesofa]

The Nappy Lady Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I think the change to the policy about sorting

> plastic/glass/paper etc. is in part to try to make

> it all easier for people - I have to say it will

> certainly save me some time each week.

Does this mean we no longer have to put paper in the blue bags but they can now just go in the blue box or is that just for people in the pilot scheme? I knew that we now don't need the plastic, glass divider anymore but I thought paper and card had to be separate. This isn't aimed at just the nappy lady, anyone will do, I'm confused. Thanks in advance!