Insignificant/ Significant things that BYP or just wind you up a little

[gremlin]

As someone who can truthfully say that my old man (was*) a dustman, I can tell you this, if only from a Bromley/Veolia perspective:

Back in the day, the council/council contractors had a permanent staff who would be on your round pretty much every week. Hence, you could give them a drink at Christmas and then the nod was a good as the wink when it came to collecting the odd bit of garden waste, shower enclosure, dead horse, etc. for the following 12 months.

Nowadays, the bin lorries have GPS trackers** and cameras with live feeds and recording back at base, the tippings are scrutinised at the tip for naughties and instant dismissal for any transgression. Well, for those who are actually employed, though most are agency anyway so are just not renewed at the end of the week.

They get arsey about the recycling as if a load is too contaminated it gets rejected by the recycling company and goes back to landfill, thus costs the council, which gets passed on to back to the residents. If the paper/cardboard gets too wet, it can be rejected too. No idea why. I know there is a big recycling centre in Bromley where the recycling lorries are emptied onto a big conveyer belt and loads of agency workers stand either side picking out the things that shouldn't be there, including nappies, full up containers, engine parts, etc, etc. and regularly have to dodge the rats that inevitably thrive around there. Not a pleasant job.

Bromley residents have:
A big waste wheelie bin for non-recyclable. Lone black bags aren't generally collected, but if you ask nicely...
Big box for paper/cardboard
Big box for glass & plastic
Big hopper for food waste
Small hopper for food waste for the worktop (the compostable bags were free to collect from libraries, council offices, etc. for about 20 mins then they started charging for them. Cheaper in Sainsbury's)
Optional big garden waste bin - £60 a year.

Is it really that inconvenient or are the old 'uns just finding another minor thing to moan about?



*F-I-L was a supervisor, in charge of the binmen. He retired as he found the new H&S, D&I, etc, etc too much. His view was that they were there to pick up rubbish. Strange concept...
When he did retire some years ago, he ensured that he and immediate family had sufficient recycling boxes and lids (great for Xmas decs, etc), black bin bags (rolls of 'em!) and the new compostable bags. Boxes and boxes of compostable bags. Enough to last years. Only he didn't realise just how quickly they decomposed, and ended up with a garage full of cardboard boxes full of what can only be described as dust.

**I can log on and see when the bin was emptied. Quite impressive actually.

[MrLongbeard]

So we are capped at oen bin full. Fuck knows what the streets will look like after Xmas!

You could stop being so wasteful and consider what you buy / throw away.

[weeksy]

Our Council has changed our recycling scheme. We now have a black bin for general waste which has moved to fortnightly collection. We've had some self-assembly furniture delivered and the i bagged up the unrecyclable polystyrene in 3 bags and put it next to the already full black bin. The bin men left it, but not before putting this sticker on it, which incidentally, the bin men threw the sticker backing on my lawn. So we are capped at oen bin full. Fuck knows what the streets will look like after Xmas!

Bins and recycling BMP too.

We are allowed 4 black bags every 2 week's for general rubbish, a glass bin and tins bin every 2 week's and 4 smallish garden waste bags every 2 weeks - no thought to how big house and garden is, number of occupants etc. Anything over your allowance, they just leave and they come this time of year they wonder why they don't get a Christmas drink? Nobs....

Garden waste just moving over to wheelie bins so I've subscribed to 2 of the biggest bins they do, so will load them to the top with as much garden waste as I can - I'll get my money out of them!

We have this lot. Green garden recycling is £25 a year. Orange box is for glass and is fortnightly. Small green caddy is waste food and weekly. The new blue and white bags is for recycling, the white is for clean (you're supposed to rinse out cans etc) plastics and cans and the other blue for clean (no pizza boxes etc) paper and cardboard. Once emptied they blow away if its windy! The council have failed to deliver the new bins to all addresses but the bin men aren't allowed to take away the old ones that people are still using and the get left there. The place is a bigger tip than normal and i really dread to think what it'll look like after xmas!

You're aware this is to make the planet better for future generations, not just to piss you off ?

[Mr. Dazzle]

I bloody love the pre-book system Prior to it there was always a massive queue at the tip, now I just drive straight in. It takes 30s to book online, excellent system IMO.

It's good for those who have time during the week to do a tip run but never good for those that can only go of a weekend. Colchester only has the one centre and it's a pretty big city covering a lot of people.....

I'm very pro recycling etc. but make it easier for us, not harder....

Yeah looking at the various responses here, I'm thinking MK council are actually pretty good. Not something I expected to say

We have the same bin system city wide. Black for 'rubbish', green for garden/food, red for cardboard, blue for glass/plastic/metal. All the same size wheely bins (they match! ) and all deployed city wide before the system went online. Black and green every week, red/blue alternate. Except for XMAS when they're binning off (ha!) the green bins for 2 weeks and collecting both recyclings instead.

3 tips in the city, never struggle to get a slot.

Except for when I buy furniture or something like that, I've never been in a 'bin overflow' situation.

I never knew I was born!

[Pirahna]

Here (Spain) there some rubbish collections from the the towns and villages, nobody owns a bin they leave rubbish bags where they can easily be collect, street corners, hanging from a tree, that sort of thing. People are very good and only put rubbish out on collection morning. For everyone else it's big green bins at various places, which is where the trouble starts. Green bin full, I go to the next one but many people don't, they just fly tip. Also there's no council tips so stuff that's too big for the bins gets deposited nearby, matresses, complete kitchens, you name it and it's dumped somewhere. I'll take some pictures when I can be bothered. If the bin sites are along a main road it's all cleared and tidied for fiesta, off the beaten track then maybe every two or three years. I suppose there's a reason why my council tax is 250 euros a year.

[Taipan]

Bins and recycling BMP too.

We are allowed 4 black bags every 2 week's for general rubbish, a glass bin and tins bin every 2 week's and 4 smallish garden waste bags every 2 weeks - no thought to how big house and garden is, number of occupants etc. Anything over your allowance, they just leave and they come this time of year they wonder why they don't get a Christmas drink? Nobs....

Garden waste just moving over to wheelie bins so I've subscribed to 2 of the biggest bins they do, so will load them to the top with as much garden waste as I can - I'll get my money out of them!

We have this lot. Green garden recycling is £25 a year. Orange box is for glass and is fortnightly. Small green caddy is waste food and weekly. The new blue and white bags is for recycling, the white is for clean (you're supposed to rinse out cans etc) plastics and cans and the other blue for clean (no pizza boxes etc) paper and cardboard. Once emptied they blow away if its windy! The council have failed to deliver the new bins to all addresses but the bin men aren't allowed to take away the old ones that people are still using and the get left there. The place is a bigger tip than normal and i really dread to think what it'll look like after xmas!

You're aware this is to make the planet better for future generations, not just to piss you off ?

Except it isn't! I have been recycling successfully for years. But they've taken a working scheme and replaced it with one that doesn't work and is causing no end of littering, so it does piss me and many other residents off!

[Horse]

Except it isn't! I have been recycling successfully for years. But they've taken a working scheme ...

Did your previous (for years) working roadside collection scheme include food and garden waste being collected then composted?

[Taipan]

Except it isn't! I have been recycling successfully for years. But they've taken a working scheme ...

Did your previous (for years) working roadside collection scheme include food and garden waste being collected then composted?

Yes, but it was combined. So you tipped your food caddy into the big green bin. I think you still can or they collect it seperately. Since they started charging £25 a year, we're seeing a lot of garden rubbish dumped now. Or if you're like my neighbor, you put it in my bin instead of paying for your own!

[gremlin]

So we are capped at oen bin full. Fuck knows what the streets will look like after Xmas!

You could stop being so wasteful and consider what you buy / throw away.

Considering what appears to be hoarded in Taipan's loft, I think it could be an awful lot worse.

[KungFooBob]

Is this the show us your bins thread?

[Mr. Dazzle]

House number snap!

[KungFooBob]

House number snap!

They've faded a bit, but they were rainbow stickers, after the wife stuck them one while I was out I had to explain that all our neighbours would now think we were gay.

[gremlin]

Is this the show us your bins thread?

I'll have to ask the staff where they keep them on the estate. If it's past the trout lake, I can't be arsed.

[Mr. Dazzle]

House number snap!

They've faded a bit, but they were rainbow stickers, after the wife stuck them one while I was out I had to explain that all our neighbours would now think we were gay.

I was referring to the 14 actually, not the choice of label form Wilkos/B&M/The Range.

[gremlin]

House number snap!

They've faded a bit, but they were rainbow stickers, after the wife stuck them one while I was out I had to explain that all our neighbours would now think we were gay.

Sounds like a conversation in our house.

'Know that man and wife couple two doors down?'
'The married couple? Nice bloke and his missus?'
'They're gay. Must be. Rainbow stickers on the bins...'

[Mr. Dazzle]

It's all ground worked being laid so they're spared in coming trans revolution.

[Taipan]

So we are capped at oen bin full. Fuck knows what the streets will look like after Xmas!

You could stop being so wasteful and consider what you buy / throw away.

I buy what I need and recycle what I can. A lot of stuff like furniture has to be delivered and a lot of it requires some self assembly, so you have packing to recycle. Except when its polystyrene. Surprised they still use that crap tbh.

[Yorick]

In the towns folk have to take their rubbish and recycling to their local drop off place. Dozens of them so never more than 2/3 minutes walk.
We take our recycling to a recycling place about half way into town.
But our rubbish bins are emptied every day

[DefTrap]

It's all about education.

You can have as many bins as you like, some people are just wankers. Every bin collection day, without fail, one of my neighbours will do something they know they shouldn't. (We all have to take our bins down to the end of the road by the way, as it's a private road)
Either:

• overfill the bin such that the lid is up (you might get away with about 20degrees - further than that? Nope!

• leave something clearly visible in the bin that shouldn't be there

• just randomly leave stray bin bags or carrier bags of rubbish next to the collection bins, hopefully

So obviously the errant bins / piles / things aren't collected. The reaction is always the same "I'll just leave it there, it's not outside my house anyway, the binmen will probably capitulate first. Or maybe that English bloke will lose his rag and furiously shovel your catfood tins and fagends into his own bin while muttering swear words". Yeah, sometimes it stays there for weeks.

A new neighbour moved in last week. She immediately overfilled her bin, the binmen wouldn't take it so now she has nowhere to put all her rubbish. Oh yeah she does though, she just opens her front door and kicks it out into the street. Fat-ankled lazy cow.

[Taipan]

When my mate first moved to Spain he couldn't get over the low council tax charge and what you got for it. They made a few changes in the place and he asked his neighbours how he could dispose of some old furniture etc. They said just put it by the big bins at the end of the street. He did and it was collected. We have to pay a fee; £30 for the collection of 1-5 items, £50 for the collection of 6-10 items. Not too bad i suppose but I'd rather it was free obvs.

When we had some building work done recently, i was surprised at how much skips cost, but then, where there's muck, there's brass, as those Yorick types would say!