Bin collection

Why would 'no collection' not work in this country Ana?

I suppose it could if everything were to be provided, such as the communal bins, but councils aren't going to be doing that in a hurry and some places just haven't got the space.

It's a completely different system and would require an awful lot of planning and expenditure.

In Spain, where DS lives, the communal bins are on street corners and take up one parking space. They are emptied frequently. I would rather that than have endless bins (my friend in Manchester has FOUR wheelie bins) on pavements and in front gardens.
Where there is a will there is a way. Unfortunately we are too used to everything being done for us.

Where I live there is no 'street corner', the main road stretches for miles.

As for 'everything being done for us', you try hefting a heavy wheelie bin up a flight of steps onto the pavement, same with the recycling containers. It's not easy when you're no spring chicken any more!

Well, Scouts offered to send kids with bikes and a trailor to help anyone who needed it- for a very small donation - and they stopped it as no-one asked for it.

Neighbours, friends, family help the few that do not have a car or have mobility issues.

Why could it not work in UK? There is absolutely no reason why not. The bins are quite nice, wood clad, and most of the container is underground- goes down about 15 feet- and the lorry has a heavy lift system.

As said, here we pay by weight, with an electronic card to open the lid, put bag in which is weighed, then dropped when you close the lid. In some Concils, they have a system of 'official' bags for that council- for sale in all shops and supermarkets in that town/region - with the town logo on and specific colour- and people pay for a roll of 10 bags- works out about £1.50 to £2.00 per bag approx, depending on council.

We have five bins, one for food, one for paper, one for glass, one for tins and plastic collected weekly and a wheelie bin for the rest collected every three weeks. I asked if I could put s broom handle against the wheelie bin because I couldn't close the lid if I put it in, and if the lid isn't closed it will not be taken. No I couldn't leave the handle next to the bin, take it to the site, the site is two miles away and I do not have s car. Next helpful suggestion - ask someone to take it for you, they will collect it but the charge is twenty five pounds for one to three items , twenty five pounds ? Cheaper to buy a saw

Council, police and firebrigade pay?
Landfill charges for those who do not recycle?
Roads, lighting, social care, both adult and child, neighbourhood wardens,parks, open spaces, cemeteries,flytipping, flyposting, pest control, street cleaning? I could go on, but I assume you get the gist, gillybob.

I am more than happy with our 2 weekly collection Black for rubbish green for garden and blue for recycle Black one week, blue and green the next. However I was a bit cross when my black wasn't emptied this week when I rang up to complain I was told it was only half full so they wouldn't empty it now the bin men were at my gate must have walked over, lifted the lid, then gone no further, as it only had two black bags in it so now my rubbish including food waste will have been sat there a month when it does get emptied........ I could have a smaller bin but some weeks it's overflowing so don't want to go down in size.... I just think that's a silly rule

Ana We have 'assisted ' collection in our area at no cost. The bin men will collect and return your bin to wherever you ask on your property, as long as it is outside. We also have a man who cleans the bins. He is self employed but I don't know what he charges as DH does ours.

There has been a lot in the local paper recently about the increase in the volume of waste brought to the bins etc. Is it the same in the UK? Maybe granjura's system of pay by weight might have to be introduced.
Certainly we seem to have more cartons and packaging material than ever. We live in the country, so a tour by the 'binmen' would take ages. When we first came to this house we kept digging up buried rubbish from the garden, once even found a vacuum cleaner!

We live in the country and have a fortnightly collection, blue bin and black box one week, green bin the next. It works pretty well by and large. We have a compost heap for kitchen waste which we use for the runner bean trench, and a bonfire for garden rubbish.

The councils have massive financial problems thanks to this and the last government. By 2020 they will have to survive on half the money they had in 2010.

Imagine that in 2010 you had an income of £20000 per year but by 2020 it's been reduced to £10000 per year. How would you manage on half the income you had 10 years previously? This is what the councils are having to contend with. So they cut the stuff that didn't hurt first. Then they cut the stuff that niggled but we could get by with. Now they have no choice but to cut things that we use regularly. It comes down to straight but unpopular decisions. Something has to be cut social care, libraries, education, parks and leisure, bin collections ..you name the council service. Money has be saved because it just isn't there.

So watch your rubbish. By unpackaged stuff when possible. Recycle, recycle and recycle some more. Crush cans etc. so they take up less space in the bins. And remember if they don't save money on the bins that something else will have to be cut.

Well said, vampire. Time someone stood up for councils.
Newcastle are going to cut workers pay next year.
Not only has the government cut the amount of money they give to councils, but they have given them more responsibility, so they have to spread it out even thinner.

I agree vq and dj. I think it's good if bins are collected less frequently as it has been shown to encourage recycling. As a society we throw away too much stuff and it all has to go into landfill, or be incinerated, (which people petitioned against here). Council can't win.

Our council is having a 'consultation' on bin collections viz: either pay £70 per annum or the service stops!!! Our waste facility is a car ride away with limited opening hours so there are long queues now down the dual carriageway - what it would be like should this dictat come to pass..... Not everyone has a car - or space in their vehicle to carry rubbish and what about the food waste we're meant to put in out recycling bin? Especially in the summer? And why should we pay when our council has just had a brand new Council Chamber at our expense. Glitz is OK if there are plenty of funds but in these days of 'austerity' surely the basics should come first

But Ana if there were communal bins you wouldn't have to take your heavy wheelie bins up a flight of steps. You could just take a small amount every time you go out.

Goldengirl, austerity is a choice. All the government has to do is collect all the taxes owed to it, and there would be no austerity.

We are starting a new bin collection timetable too. Landfill and recycling bins are each going to be collected every three weeks instead of fortnightly. This is fine, except that on some weeks, both are supposed to be emptied the same day, which would seem to suggest that the council will need more lorries and more employees for rubbish collection, because how else are they going to do a double load in one day?

Glass bottles and jars is four weekly though ours only needs emptied about three times a year, and the food composting bins are emptied weekly.

There is outrage in my village this morning! After previous warning tags about wrong items in recycling, this week they have refused to empty all bins with any inappropriate contents. Out of a row of 5 bins in my terrace, only mine was emptied (halo emoticon). On my walk around the village I was amazed at the number of new TV boxes put out! However, as most of them contained polystyrene packing they remain strewn over the verges. I always cut up large boxes with the bread knife so that they fit in the bin. Polystyrene and bubble plastic go for land fill. I hope this action will get the message across to the offenders!

What also bugs me is that even within a few miles and in the same county there are different coloured bins and different rules for what goes in them. Hence if we visit even locally I'm always having to check what goes in which bin of course woe betide if the wrong thing is binned. It's ludicrous! We're even told to bring the bins in again before midday after collection - easy when you're at work: not!!!

What are you doing putting stuff in other people's bins?

Where we live there's still some 'flytipping'going on.
In one village near us the Mayor checked the rubbish, found some evidence of address, and had the rubbish dumped back on the owner's garden!

Brilliant, Tricia.
You do know about www.fixmystreet.com where you can report flytipping?

Don't think TriciaF lives in the UK.

problems related to rubbish disposal and fly tipping are international - so it doesn't matter where TriciaF lives. It happens in France, and yes, it even happens in Switzerland (but not to such an extent as in the UK thank goodness).

BTW all refuse is incinerated here, not landfill. The energy produced with the burning is used to heat a whole village near our local incineration plant.