Bi weekly bin collections

[richfish]

My blue bin arrived this week along with 2 brown containers. I have no idea what goes into what. I have gone through the Council's website but I can't find any bin user guides or some such. Is there a leaflet that explains this. How do I get hold of a copy? And can I get any of the bins returned? There are only 2 of us in the house and we generate very little rubbish - one tall pedal bin a week is about our lot excluding papers/bottles which are fine in the blue boxes.

[EDmummy]

richfish Wrote:

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> My blue bin arrived this week along with 2 brown

> containers. I have no idea what goes into what. I

> have gone through the Council's website but I

> can't find any bin user guides or some such. Is

> there a leaflet that explains this. How do I get

> hold of a copy? And can I get any of the bins

> returned? There are only 2 of us in the house and

> we generate very little rubbish - one tall pedal

> bin a week is about our lot excluding

> papers/bottles which are fine in the blue boxes.

You should have received a leaflet with your brown bin (two? we only got one but perhaps you live in a flat and they have given you and indoor and outdoor). You should have also received a 2 year (based on 2/week) liners for your small brown bins. Just send an email to the incredibly responsive environmental team (email address on the Southwark website) and I am sure they will get back to you quickly (of course dependent on how many other people did or didn't get their bin's accompanying literature) and embrace the new era of recycling!

And, No - I do not work for the council!

[Alan Medic]

After all that..........now this.

It's a human right to have your bins collected weekly.

[*Bob*]

First the speed limit and now the bins.

I've heard the government are going to announce a free lollipop and a back rub for everyone of polling age on Monday.

Anyone would think there's a party conference around the corner.

[richfish]

Thanks for that. I have got the brown food bin up and running this morning. Seem fine. I will get in contact with the team and see if I can find out more and if there is a smaller mini size blue bin.

[peterstorm1985]

The 'mini size blue bin' is the box you had previously. If you don't want the blue wheelie bin just ring up and ask for it to be collected.

[Dorothy]

Oh dear, poor old Southwark, now we may be going back to weekly collections.

For what its worth I think we should have:

- paper sacks for garden rubbish only. You put a paper sack out, they put a new one through your door. I imagine that only about 1 in 10 of those garden rubbish bins are actually filled every week - we have probably one of the bigger back gardens in the area and hardly ever fill it completely.

- mini brown bin outside for food waste. Those of us who have been on the trial were given the option of having these, they are about the size of a small pedal bin but you keep them outside and have a small kitchen caddy inside. We are a family of four and fill our kitchen caddy about twice in a week, although we also compost things like vegetable peelings, but that would easily fit in one of these mini brown bins I'm talking about.

- a second blue box for people who do not want a hideous blue bin

- a smaller green bin for anyone who requests one

It would be great if neighbours, particularly in flats, could come to bin sharing arrangements, so that maybe there are four wheelies between two houses, instead of three in every front garden/outside every front door.

[hpsaucey]

Well - I counted 7 wheelies outside one properly on Barry Road. Is that a record???

I'm extremely happy to be able to recycle more - TetraPak's etc - hurrah!!! BUT, do wonder why we need to many large bins?? What do they do on the continent - in general recycling rates seem to be higher and I don't ever see their roads etc. clogged up with bins - or maybe I've just never looked or noticed. Anyone know???

I'd love to see stricter rules on packaging around goods so we don't get so much of the damn stuff in the first place. Maybe I will start leaving it at the supermarket - is that legal???

Helen

[computedshorty]

Wheelie Bins.

There is nothing worse than markings on the bin to connect it as being YOURS that is done roughly.

Looking along the road those who have painted a rough number on them and they dont have to be so big and are MARKED IN THE WRONG PLACE.

The Dustman handling your bin can ony see the back of the bin that is the hinged side under the handle, reading this he can put the bin back at the right house.

I dont have a number so I had the name on my stickers.

I have no finantial interest in the company making these but to have nice small stickers can make a far more neat vision of your road.

There are many who will make your stickers you can even have flowers or bushes on your bin.

You could even have a EDF sticker.

My two stickes cost only ?3.50. Post free.

http://bin-stickers.com/item.php?item=BN02&adAgent=GAW_Direct_BN02

[first mate]

James,

I don't think it's been thought through either.

I'm very happy to recycle by why have they not thought to offer two sizes of bin? That way those who produce less waste could fit three smaller bins in the space of one and a half. Additionally, why can't all the bins be green or brown and simply colour coded by sticking something on the top, rendering them less of an eyesore. Why does the council always have to treat people as though they are at primary school- ie the blue bins

I agree with Sue, aesthetics are important to many people and these bins are ugly with a capital U. Who chose the colour and when were we consulted? When were we consulted about each getting three huge bins to fit in the space of one bin.

The mini food waste bin with its special compostable bags, stinks to high heaven so I cannot see myself continuing with that. Grrrrr.

[Senor Chevalier]

Am actually now taking to the whole food scraps caddy. And being glass is half full for a moment, the arrival of the monstrous blue bin has prompted me to call up Southwark and optimise my bin arrangements. I had 3 bins before, now I have 4, but I reckon I can get it down to a green, a brown and a blue box. And if they do a half size green and brown then so much the better.

We should launch a "most parsimonious bin arrangement" competition...

[first mate]

SC,

Unfortunately, as I was told by Southwark recycling yesterday, they only do the brown bin in a half size, none of the others. If we are going back to weekly collections I too would make do with a blue box, if twice weekly I'd need a half-size blue bin, but they don't do those.

I've always put my garden waste in the brown bags for collection and so never needed a bin- some weeks there'd be far too much anyway and other weeks none, so brown bin was a waste of space. Now they've introduced this brown food caddy thing I have nowhere to put the full food scraps bags. If I put the scraps in a blue or green bin it'll be wrong. So I'm forced to get a brown bin which means three bins in the space of one- so annoying. Just which the council would think these things through before they foist it on us.

[Senor Chevalier]

Grr, that's a shame. I reckon we could cope with a half size version of the green and brown and then a blue box (or half size blue) and in doing so get them all into the specially designed bin store we invested in and out of sight.

[Fly]

Are we going back to weekly collections? Some people have suggested this in their posts.

[James Barber]

Southwark Council has no plans to change form the soon to be implemented fortnightly rubbish collections, fortnightly recycling collections and weekly food waste collections.

For those that want a smaller green wheelie bin call 020 7535 2000 and ask for a 180 litre green wheelie bin. Any problems pleae email me.

I will ask if the council can provide 180 litre brown and blue wheelie bins. I've asked about smaller bronw ones before with no success but that was when they we only for garden waste.

Fingers crossed.

[The Minkey]

For those with less waste, there are options to reduce the amount of bins you now have:

Recycling: Stick with the blue boxes, order a second if needed. They stack easily and take up far less space than the new large bin. This page doesn't yet mention the blue bins, but for those confused as to what goes in them, Council info here: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/10070/recycling

Garden & food waste: Stick with the brown paper bags for garden waste if that suits your needs, and ask the council to take your large brown bin away. Order the larger brown caddy to put outside, it's about 2 or 3 times the volume of the kitchen caddy. Council info here: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/530/food_and_garden_waste

Other waste: As James points out, you can get a smaller volume green bin - they look to be the same height and depth, just narrower so less of a footprint widthways.

General info about the service changes here, including info about the new blue bins, here: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/200377/service_changes_october_2011

[bawdy-nan]

:( so far we've had a small blue box delivered and no brown bin or brown food caddy.

I've asked for a blue bin and a smaller green bin as we already generate recycling that fills two (of our own) large containers on a weekly basis and barely a black sack of ordinary rubbish a week. We've been composting and now we can keep cooked food scraps and food tainted paper out of our green bin we'll have hardly any rubbish. But - no food caddy, no bags no brown bin ... boo hoo

[Applespider]

Came home last week to find 9 wheelies in the garden - 4 green, 4 blue and 1 brown. And one solitary brown caddy - so only one of the four flats can easily collect their food refuse.

So... is there one number we can call to reduce the bin number (I suspect we could manage with 2 blue and 2 green) and get an extra brown bin (the neighbour with the garden frequently takes it round to the back garden while working to which the rest of us don't have access) and some more caddies?

And one question - the polystyrene trays that you get pears/peaches in - blue or green?

[Odyssey]

I read somewhere that "foam cups" go into the blue bin . So I would put polystyrene trays in blue bin.

[peterstorm1985]

Applespider Wrote:

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>

> So... is there one number we can call to reduce

> the bin number

The links on the post above (two above yours) goes to all of Southwark recycling contact details. Only one telephone number appears on all links

[sophiesofa]

Is it only me who thinks they could have made the kitchen 'caddy' a less disgusting colour? I know brown is the southwark garden/food waste colour but why does it have to be the same poo colour seeing as it's obvious what it's for! I'll get over it one day or just buy a better one.

Anyone recommend a good recycling bin for the kitchen? I've had a look online and their either extortionate or really ugly. I guess one with 2 equal sized sections would be best? I don't want to get one then regret it. I know I shouldn't care what it looks like as it's only a bin, but I do.

[catma]

Agreed - the blue would suit my kitchen perfectly. Maybe some inventive work with sticky backed plastic is called for.

[Cassius]

I don't know about the rest of Europe but in Italy there are large recycling bins around the town (such as there used to be on the corner of Peckham Rye) and people just carry their rubbish to these bins - they have bins for glass, cardboard/paper, plastics and household rubbish, also some have little bins for unwanted/used medicine bottles. In some towns people leave larger items behind the bins and this allows people to take anything they want - we left our old doors at the recyling area and they disappeared within hours.

[Twirly]

Well, despite having emailed on 24 September asking for a kitchen caddy for myself and upstairs neighbour (since they only left one between three flats), we still haven't received anything. So for the moment, we can't recycle our food waste. I just hope that we won't be penalised for it, since it's Southwark's fault. Have just chased them up, so hopefully I'll hear something soon

[Penguin68]

I have just been stuck next to a Greenwich dustcart. Greenwich collects all 3 types of rubbish weekly (they call our blue box stuff 'dry recyling' which seems sensible), and all their bins are the same colour (green, as it happens) the different usages being distinguished by different colour lids (green, blue and black). This makes the garish colour effect much less noticeable, and has the advantage, I would guess, that they need order and stock only one colour of bin, but multi-colours of lids. This must be more efficient.

Obviously we are where we are on this - but it does show what planning and forethought could have achieved. And weekly collections for all classes of rubbish...