What a Waste!

[callmemadam]

Our council is changing its methods of waste collection, a supposed improvement which will be much worse for me. At the moment we have weekly rubbish collection and a fortnightly collection for recyclable glass, plastic and paper. There’s also an optional garden waste collection every week, using orange sacks which cost a pound each.

I live modestly. I recycle everything I can and have compost bins and a heap in the garden. Most weeks, the only rubbish I put out is a small pedal bin liner. From next month I have to have three, yes three, wheelie bins *and* a bin for food waste (what food waste?) as well as the green box I already have. In order to get garden waste collected, I will have to pay £35.00 a year on top of my already ludicrously high council tax. I am really upset that my pretty cottage and garden will be cluttered up with hideous, unnecessary lumps of plastic. I can’t think of a single place where they can be hidden out of sight from at least one window. On top of that, we have no pavements here, so on collection days I’ll have to totter out with the bins to line them up on the drive, and may not be able to get my car out. Grr! It will be even worse for people in town who live in terraced houses, as the new bins will fill their little front gardens. I look forward to next year’s ‘best garden visible from the road’ competition.

I was early walking up to the post this morning and all the green boxes were out. Cor, the people in this village don’t 'arf drink a lot of wine.

Comments

[wardy.livejournal.com]

How utterly pointless!

I wonder if there is an "opt-out" option or similar concession for people in your situation, i.e not producing enough waste to warrant so many bins?

Wardy

[aellia.livejournal.com]

Just driving around the country,in our van I can see how these bins have changed our once lovely towns and villages. They all look,without
exception,like ghettos and slums.
I loathe and detest every single bin that was ever made.
We have a long road of multi occupancy Victorian houses in town,each house frontage is home to around twenty of these monstrosities.
They drink a lot in our village,too.
Our Co-op has just cut the household section to make room for more booze!

[trixiebacon.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a job for James Dyson and Kevin McCloud to me. They might be able to come up with a more acceptable bin. I agree, they're a depressing sight, and there should be different sizes for people who live modestly.

Bins!

[(Anonymous)]

Don't get me started!
Right ... newly built council houses (or whatever they call them now) were built with no area for their bins so they are 'housed' permanently outside the front door.
Opposite to where we live, there are 6 semi-det town houses, the first two of which have steps up to the front door (garage below the sitting room), so that the current residents leave their bins on the drive ALL WEEK. This makes what is an attractive close look like a sink estate.
Our Council supply FIVE bins. A black wheelie bin for residual waste (i.e. stuff which can't be recycled which means most food packaging), two large open-top black boxes (for recycling stuff) so that when it rains whatever inside gets soaked, including newspaper and cardboard (whoever thought this would be a good idea?), a food waste bin for such things as chicken bones, melon peel, pineapple tops, etc, egg shells (we don't have a compost heap, garden too small) and finally the kitchen caddy for the food waste which is then transferred to the food waste bin outside (I use compostible liners for this.) FIVE bins in total. Hushand had to make a special area in our small garden for them!
As the stuff for recycling gets wet, husband has also made a lid which goes over both these bins, but this shouldn't have been necessary! And we don't have a bin for garden waste, so that has to be taken to the local tip (or whatever they call it these days.)
The bins are an eyesore but, sadly, they are necessary. I just wish that when new homes are built, especially at the cheaper end of the scale, bins is taken into consideration. How difficult is it to design a house with an area for a bin? Councils take note!

[gwendraith.livejournal.com]

And of course they consulted with everyone before they decided on this..../sarcasm.

What an utter waste of money and an eye sore to boot. Lobby your MP and get the neighbours to do the same.

[lethe1]

In Amsterdam it's organized differently, fortunately, but I have friends in other towns here in the Netherlands who have this exact same problem. Councils don't seem to appreciate that there are many single-person households nowadays with no need (not to mention space) for these huge bins.