Bi weekly bin collections

[ratty]

Just announced by leaflet this morning. Any tips for making this work in a small house with 4 ppl living in it. Where Reball the necessary bins going to live? The smell next summer will be disgusting.

[The Minkey]

If it's the same leaflet I got, food waste will still be collected weekly. It's just the non-food waste which is moving to a fortnightly collection, and tetrapacks are now also included in the recycling. Do you have to deal with disposal of nappies, is that why you're worried about the smell?

[Pickle]

Yes, same for us. We've been part of the pilot scheme up till now, so the only difference is that glass/plastic/cans etc. are being collected every two weeks which makes sense. We've had bi-weekly collection of standard household waste for about a year.

We're a family of 4, with 3 of us at home during the day so we do create quite a lot of waste due to eating all meals at home etc., but it's been fine.

[ratty]

It is nappies I am most worried about. Guess I will need to give the bin a dam good cleaning to start from the best possible hygiene position. I do have concerns though :(

[Pickle]

Switch to cloth nappies? We don't have nappies anymore (not for another few months anyway!), but loads of our neighbours have small babies and seem to cope with no problem. Generally since the switch to recycling more we found our standard waste bin is hardly used (one bag of rubbish a week at most) so you shouldn't run out of space - I guess it's just a case of making sure you bag up the nappies well so they don't smell too much.

[Dorothy]

If you use disposable nappies, shake the poo down the loo!

We have been on the bi-weekly rubbish collection scheme for at least a year and it has been absolutely fine but I am really narked that we are going to be given a third (blue) wheelie bin for bottles and cans etc which are now going to be collected fortnightly instead of weekly. I just don't want a third bin in my small front garden and I realise I am lucky to have a front garden, lots of my neighbours have to leave their bins on the street which is crowded enough already with two bins outside each house. They are ugly and significantly reduce the space on the pavement, and make our neighbourhoods look dirty and cluttered.

I am going to refuse a third bin and recycle at the supermarket more frequently.

[northlondoner]

Sadly, I fear the response of those not fired with the zeal of the recycler will be to do what's done elsewhere. More flytipping. Yuk.

And washing crap filled nappies to reuse them - :-S

[ratty]

It's gonna be a bit chokka outside the front of my house, but I am gonna embrace the change. Nappy user is only 6 months so should not be too niffy for a bit!

[benmorg]

Dorothy Wrote:

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

> If you use disposable nappies, shake the poo down

> the loo!

>

> We have been on the bi-weekly rubbish collection

> scheme for at least a year and it has been

> absolutely fine but I am really narked that we are

> going to be given a third (blue) wheelie bin for

> bottles and cans etc which are now going to be

> collected fortnightly instead of weekly. I just

> don't want a third bin in my small front garden

> and I realise I am lucky to have a front garden,

> lots of my neighbours have to leave their bins on

> the street which is crowded enough already with

> two bins outside each house. They are ugly and

> significantly reduce the space on the pavement,

> and make our neighbourhoods look dirty and

> cluttered.

>

> I am going to refuse a third bin and recycle at

> the supermarket more frequently.

Doesn't the blue one replace the green one?

Edit: ah, apparently not. Yes, that is annoying, will ruin front gardens.

[intexasatthe moment]

Oh dear more stress for my elderly disabled mother who lives alone - she has enough trouble as it is .

Her terrace of houses have no bins provided as pavement is too narrow ,front doors open directly onto pavement .

It's a nightmare timing the putting out of the bag of rubbish ,can't be left out night before as gets ripped open by animals .

And she can't see or bend over ,has very restricted hand and finger movements - my head is already aching at thought of all the reassuring her ,trying to work out how she ( with my help ) will cope .

Anyone any experience of how to help elderly and/or disabled manage this ?

[Pickle]

I think you're able to turn down the blue bin and get another blue box if needed? We already have two blue boxes (tend to only use one) so I think I'll just stick with those rather than another large bin.

[damzel]

Yes, you can refuse the blue bin and get an extra box instead. I understand that if your garden/space looks too small for an additional bin, they will give you an extra box automatically instead. I'm really pleased it's coming our way actually and even more so as I found out we can put the food waste in the big brown bin so we don't need the additional small brown one.

[intexasatthe moment]

And if your door opens directly onto the pavement and you have no bin ?

What happens ?

[damzel]

What do you use for a bin now?

[intexasatthe moment]

On behalf of my mum I help her put a plastic bag on her window sill .

But it has to be timed as close as possible to arrival of bin men .

But it wouldn't take a brown mini food bin ( wouldn't fit ) and I think one of the thin ,compostible food bin bags provided would get attacked by birds/squirrels/rats .

[northlondoner]

Sweet Lady Gaga, I wish the council would devote as much time and energy to keeping the streets clean as they do to bloody recycling. Right now there are bags of rubbish ( left on the street by council street cleaners ) which have been torn apart by the foxes. The streets around here are strewn with disgusting rubbish, which I've just been told won't be shifted til tomorrow . Wonder why we've got a rodent problem in the area? Well at least we've got the recycling thing covered.

[SCSB79]

What part(s) of ED is this getting introduced to?

[ratty]

I am in Abbotswood Road and we were leafleted yesterday

[Pickle]

It's been in operation around Upland/Friern etc. for about a year now.

[sophiesofa]

From the council website:

Service changes October 2011

We are committed to providing effective and efficient recycling and refuse collection services for all properties in the borough. We also aim to make it as easy as possible for residents to recycle as much as they can. To help achieve both these aims, we will be introducing service changes in October 2011 to all street based properties in the borough. Estate homes that use the clear bag collection service or communal recycling bins are not affected.

Service changes for properties with a street based collection

Street based properties that currently have a blue box recycling collection will be included in these service improvements. Properties that are included will receive further information directly through their letterbox in September 2011. If you share bins with neighbours we can provide you with your own brown or blue bins for storing food and garden waste or other recycling.

Mixed recycling

Kerbside properties will be able to mix all of their recyclable items together in one container, with no more need to separate out different waste types. Wherever possible, we will be supplying residents with a wheeled bin to replace their current blue box and bag, which will increase the capacity available.

With the significantly increased capacity of the new wheeled bin, we will only need to collect your dry recycling once every fortnight.

Introducing weekly food waste collections

We will also be extending the successful food waste pilot. All kerbside properties will receive a mixed food and garden waste collection every week, from your existing brown garden waste bin. If you don't have a brown bin we will supply you with one that is a suitable size for your property.

Refuse collections

We have found in the food waste pilot area, with easier mixed recycling, and organic material being collected separately, there should only be a small amount of refuse left over. As a result, we will only need to collect the small amount of remaining waste from your existing green bin once every other week.

Are properties that were in the pilot included in these changes?

Properties in the pilot area already have food waste collections every week and refuse collections every other week. These properties will now be provided with blue bins to replace their blue boxes, and these will be emptied every other week.

So we'll all get a leaflet about it this month.

[ilondoner]

My neighbour arranges for our shared bin to be washed and lined by a man with a van. I think he comes round every two weeks. I will ask her for his contact details and post it.

[The Minkey]

I've been in the pilot for the last year or so. It's been absolutely fine. They provide a small brown bin & liners which sits on my kitchen counter to collect up the organic waste through the week. I live on my own and generate a small bag of organic waste per week, about a carrier bag full of green bin waste and half a blue box of recyclables. Could possibly get away with existing bin situation, but will go for two blue boxes as opposed to a large blue bin as they take up less space stacked.

Intexasatthemoment: I have a 95yr old friend with mobility issues who seperates out her rubbish and relies on her downstairs neighbours to put it out for her, much like you do the putting out for your mum. However, in her case there is a small front garden which houses the bins. What do the other people in your mum's street do? Have you tried calling the council to ask them to propose a solution given there's no space for bins?

[James Barber]

The food washe pilot has been successful but what is being rolled out to all 'street properties' is not the pilot.

What is being rolled out will see 'dry recycleables' - paper, glass, plastics collected fortngihtly.

One lesson that was learnt from the pilot was that many people wanted a wheelie bin solely for their dry recycling. So that at least is some good news for those that want these.

Southwark several years ago moved from fortnightly to weekly recycling collections and had a big increase in uptake and % increase in recycling.

Plenty of evidence to show that going back to fortnightly recycling collections will see a drop in those materials being recycled.

However it is obviously cheaper to collect it fortnightly. Also the recycling will no longer need to be seperated. Seperated recycling has a higher resale value. Unseperated recycling collections tend to see a slightly higher rate of recycling.

Tetrapak recycling. Last time I checked with the Tetra pack corporation any Tetrapaks collected will be bundled up and lorried and shipped to Sweden for recycling. The Life Cycle Management of tetrapaks that are NOT recycled in the country of collection shows its environmentally more damaging to collect and recycle than treat as rubbish. Great appeareance of being green but its just for PR until their is a tetrapak recycling plant in SE England and their are no plans for a UK plant.

[The Minkey]

Interesting points James, but surely the situation with the new collection is unlikely to reduce the amount of material recycled seeing as the green bin collection has also dropped to fortnightly.

I will be mildly interested to see whether it will force my neighbours, who have two green bins overflowing with rubbish every week, to finally start recycling.

[Siduhe]

Does anyone know how the scheme is going to work for blacks of flats? We are lucky to have just about enough space on our small front area to fit in three bins (brown, green, blue). However, both sides we have small blocks of flats (6-10 in each building) which at the moment already have one green bin per flat (and not enough room to put these on as it is). Are these bins also going to multiply by three so we will have between 18-30 bins on either site?

I assume not, but what is the planned solution? On either property, there isn't enough room to put in big industrial type common bins, as they use all off street space for parking.