Weekly Bin Collections
 

The Government is looking to bring back weekly bin collections. I have to say that in all the time I spent in local government, the one thing I always struggled to justify was the move to fortnightly collections. To me it was simply a cynical way to save money, justified by a smokescreen of getting us all to recycle.

It would be interesting to know the arrangements for refuse collection in other parts of the world like Canada and Italy where other accy webbers live. In Spain, I know that domestic refuse is collected every day, seven days a week.

Re: Weekly Bin Collections
 

Can anyone answer the following:

a) Where has the government suddenly found £250m to pay for this weekly bin collection? (please don't say by sacking 1000 members of the Royal Navy).

b) What scientific evidence is there to back up the theory that waste collection every two weeks results in more vermin - rats, mice and 'roaches - on the streets?

c) What the net effect will be on recycling volumes and what the additional costs to local authorities will be in increased landfill tax?

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The timing is all designed to make Eric Pickles look good at the Conservative Conference next week, and as such it is little more than a cheap and cynical gimmick. The effect on recycling and landfill won't have entered his head. He can't see past plaudits and standing ovations.

Shame, really, because its right to restore weekly collections.

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why would anyone recycle less just if we go back to weekly bin collections.
Surely now we have all got the message about recycling? Goodness, I was doing recycling long before government and councils got in on the act....taking my newspapers to the collection point at Tesco....same with bottles and tin cans.
I am not going to be putting something recyclable into my rubbish bin just to make it look more full.
Who is it who comes up with these crackpot notions?

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It might be a political ploy to make Eric Pickles look good(is that really possible? - he's a right gargoyle), but if you consider it the right thing to do why make mileage out of it?

Why don't other government minister use some more political ploys to make them look good too......getting us out of the EU would win my vote.......whoever did it! (don't get me started)

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Because in general humans are lazy animals and will put everything in the one bin if they can. The move to fortnightly collections forced people to recycle who would never have done before - I am one of these people. I think many people will revert back to using the one bin.

Not sure if I can be bothered wheeling all my bins bags boxes out every week. I like grey bin day because its just one bin, the week after in a pain in the neck.

Obviously you are one of the good ones who is not lazy and will keep recycling.

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A very good sensible question that I doubt will result in a good sensible answer (apart from mine :D )

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I think it is wrong to label humans as inherently lazy. Much has been made of green issues in the past and these issues have been taken up.......good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones.

My refuse bin is rarely full, but I know families with a few children in our street....they use my free capacity....but I tell them if I see anything that could be recycled in the stuff they put in my bin....they will not get to use it again for their household waste........and No, I am not policing their refuse, I am letting them know that recycling is their responsibility too.....so far I haven't had a single problem.

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We never stopped having weekly collections, the only thing we have fortnightly is the recycling, my recycling bin after the fornight is practically full, my household bin that goes out weekly rarely has more than one bin bag in it because we recycle that much, so the excuse that people won't recycle as much if they have their bins back to weekly collection is a load of bollox

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We have weekly collections now.

I'm quite happy with the system.

One week non-recycable waste. The week after, rubbish that can be recycled.

I've never had a problem, and fail to see the fuss some people make about it.

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I certainly would welcome a weekly refuse collection, fortnightly recycling is fine, but my neighbours and myself are still on bin bags, orange bin bags collected every other which means a horrible stink especially when we have weather that we've had this week

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I didn't know you still had sacks.

Why can't you have communal wheelie bins, like they have at the homes at St. Paul's?

Best thing ever, wheelie bins, for being dog, cat, fox proof, and for keeping smells under a lid.

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I questioned this time and again, from what I can gather there was a stumbling block over who's responsibility it was to provide the cash for the bases HH or HBC, but anything would be better than what we have now I'll settle for weekly collections

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I can't see how where you live is any different from the flats/houses at St. Paul's, who have lidded wheelie bins.

Weekly or fortnightly, wheelie bins are better, and more hygenic than sacks, regardless of how often they're collected.

You should find out who your councillor is, and get them on to it.

:D

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Ma has a sack too...which despite many requests for her to leave it and let us move it, she busts her chops every time, to move it from the back yard to the front door.......the bin wagons don't go up Riley's Hill.

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Been there done that got the bloody Tshirt.:( Our set out is totally different than St. Pauls Rindi, its all flaged with some fencing, on Mallard its all grassed with nowhere really to put wheelie bins

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i was told during my inquiries into the clinical waste fiasco that it was too expensive to return to weekly collections like others in the area have.

although i would welcome weekly collections back i can not see how cameron can justify spending this money when he is reducing councils budgets and forcing people out of work.I would rather see people keep their jobs as much as i would liek weekly collections back i cant see the justification

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near me the council give some households red sacks for extra waste but when i ring up asking about these mysterious red sacks all existence of them is denied.These households have wheeliebins etc and the red sacks/bags :confused:

from what i can see through them as they are opaque its just standard waste

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Apart from agreeing with jaysay, I would prefer the recycling be collected weekly, after reviewing what we were binning 12 months ago my recycling is always full to bursting by collection day but wheelie isn't too.bad, I would love proper recyling containers that could be kept outside, my kitchen looks a blummin mess with all my recyling, anyone got any good outdoor containers they use instead of their kitchens?

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Perhaps you get a red sack if you regularly dismember bodies.

http://themaresnest.files.wordpress....0226-large.gif

Go and have a root when you next see one.

:D

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Learn to cook.:p:D:D

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I didn't like the fortnightly collections at first, but have now got used to them, but I have heard on the grapevine that it is being discussed if it would be possible to introduce a food waste collection bin. This could have the possibility to be a bit pongy, especially if as garinda suggests you dismember bodies on a regular basis.

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Sounds like stupidity by Officers that. I pay council tax and they gave me a bin and empty it.

I assume you pay council tax so they should give you a bin and empty it.

I dont see why it has anything to do with Hyndburn Homes at all.

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we asked for a growth plan ,a plan b and all we got was rubbish:eek:

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On a personal level I'm happy with the fortnightly collection now, what with the recycling we sometimes go a month before putting the wheelie bin out, there is only two of us in the house tho

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Before the announcement today, that despite all the cut backs the government are providing £250 million to aid a return to weekly collections, the government insisted earlier this year that there had been no increase in poor hygiene.

Today Eric Pickles was rattling on that the move is because of health issues.

I smell a rat, and it's not just because lardy Eric was sweating like a gerbil in Richard Gere's apartment, whilst interviewed on the news.

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Pickles thinks this is a decision which matters more to the public than other services, such as looking after the vulnerable & the elderly!

If he's right then its a sad reflection on todays society! However i dont think he's right so its a sadder reflection of what this Government thinks will make it more popular!

Best Regards - Taggy

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Agreed.

From the people interviewed on the news, this isn't the (costly) vote winner they think it is.

Sure, folks grumbled when the present system was introduced, but most have got used to, and even prefer it.

As jobs and services are being slashed, the general public know where the 250 million quid could be much better spent.

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Saw Pickles on the news, he mentioned the health part but his last reason supporting the weekly collection was that "people understand it"

Just how stupid does he think folk are ?

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Is that all your own work :eek:no link:rolleyes::D

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Weekly collections never seemed to be a problem for the old Oswaldtwistle UDC:D

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I have never had a single complaint about fortnightly bin collections and I have never had a problem with the current system. Quite often it will only be left out once per month because the vast majority of household waste can be recycled.

Food waste was toyed with as an idea to get recycling rates up and lower the tonnage being sent to landfill but it has generally been agreed that it would not be a good idea, primarily because of the hygeine issue.

Better recycling is the way forward and this £250m bribe, sorry policy, smells of face-saving to me.

Re: Weekly Bin Collections
 

wonder if its anything to do with the private sector taking over refuse collection;)

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I can only endorse what many people have said on here and elsewhere. Have got used to it now, and is not that difficult.

Again, will point out that we do have weekly collections .. just split into two types that is all.

The grumble appears to be that it is the food rotting that will attract rats and maggots.. but, honestly, most people with any sense will wrap up the excess food in various packaging before putting in the bin; I wrap in newspaper, then in a small plastic bag and then in my black bin bag.

Attachment 18518 Could try this sticker.. :)

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Its ok Kate the maggots get emptied every 2 weeks as well.

My bin smells a bit now but that's just part of the fun with a new puppy :D

I don't stand there with the lid open taking deep breaths so it does not really matter.


(No before anyone asks Coco the Beagle has not been murdered and stuffed in the bin, everyone knows wheelie bins are where cats belong.)

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It isn't difficult for us Kate either, there is only me and him , but there are families in the street for whom the present system doesn't quite fit
They recycle as much as they can but yet the bin for non recyclabale stuff is full to overflowing long before the bin man comes.......so we donate our free bin space,as does the pensioner next door to us.....being neighbourly.

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Hyndburn Borough Council - rebuilding our broken society and bringing neighbours together by supplying small wheelie bins.

We are so lucky to have such a caring council, we will miss them when we are part of Pennine Lancashire and have no voice at all ;)

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I do that too with both my next door neighbours .. one having a 12 month old baby plus three other children. How much food waste would they have anyway ? Probably the disposable nappies which are their biggest problem.

Gone are the days when we could burn rubbish on our coal fires... :bleedht:

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yes Kate...though at a guess I don't reckon you would burn nappies.......oooh it would make a pong.
But yes, we did burn a lot of stuff on the good old coal fire....it made the coal last a bit longer :D

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Including the ST's .. sorry folks.

To be honest, I am tryng to think of the items I put in my black bin on a regular basis, and apart from food excess (aren't we lucky), window envelopes, fag ends and the odd metal item ... what else do people fill their bins with (disposable nappies/dog pooh excluded). Maybe it is packaging that should be in the recycle sacks ?

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lots of packaging plastic cant be recycled and has to go in the bin. Yoghurt pots go in. I believe tetra packs - the plastic coated cardboard packs that fresh orange comes in cant be recycled either.

I put green garden waste in mine because they wont give me a green bin because I dont live in a garden area. So what is that think that looks like a hedge between the grass thats not there and the wall? :rolleyes:

Its autumn so it will soon be full of leaves that fall of the 2 big trees I dont have but cant cut them down because we are in a conservation area :rolleyes:

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The council here in Bolton have a really good refuse collection model. The grey bin for non recyclabes is collected every week and the recyling bins, 3 of them, every fortnight. It seems to suit everyone. The latest initiative is a small bin we've been given to put all waste food into complete with biodegradable liners. To be honest we don't really need the weekly one anymore as we probabaly recycle about 65 to 70% of the volume of our rubbish.

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Keep it as it is, I put my grey bin out about every 6 weeks because I recycle that much and I have a toddler so the majority of my refuse is nappies. Doesn't half make yer bin pong!

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It sounds great but most people don't have the room to store all those bins.

My parents in the Ribble Valley have 3 small bins (half the size of our grey bins) that rae collected weekly
1 for non recyclable
1 for recyclable
1 for green garden waste

If we had that model here most terraced houses would only have 2 small bins

Here is what they do

Ribble Valley Borough Council - Three Stream Waste Collection.

The odd thing is they use a private contractor to take paper and card in a sack like our paper is but it is taken fortnightly and might be on a different day to the other bins

It explains here Ribble Valley Borough Council - Mixed paper and cardboard collection service.


I like the idea of mixed recyclables, maybe the same company would want Hyndburns business.

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Face saving for who, please remind me who legislated to bring in the fortnightly collection policy

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When this split collection system was first introduced it meant that I had to store a sack of rotting rubbish in my bin compartment for at least a week, it wasn't long before the I heard the patter of tiny feet, feasting on left overs, as you can imagine I was pleased, as these new lodgers were wining and dining for free and not helping in any way to paying the rent:rolleyes: The problem was solved my the mice catcher general and HBCs refuse department who provided me with a bin were I could keep the sacks until collection day, I haven't had a return visit from my cheese munching friends since:rolleyes::D

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I put vegetable/fruit peelings in my refuse bin........OK, Ok. don't all jump on me at once and tell me that these could be used for compost........what good would compost be to me?
My backyard hasn't got one ounce of soil on it........now if some local keen gardener wanted to have my peelings and would be happy to collect them, that would be just dandy.
My bin gets the emptyings from the vacuum cleaner, the packaging that is non recyclable....and there is quite a bit of that, some polystyrene trays and plastic that wraps on some supermarket items aren't recyclable.......I do check to see if the packaging I am throwing out is recyclable.

Food waste of which there is very little(gizmo, is a greedy burger and will eat anything, including somethings he shouldn't eat - he recently fished some chicken bones out of my kitchen bin...luckily I caught him before he ate them).
This why I have free capacity in my bin.

Re: Weekly Bin Collections
 

Just because some packaging is recyclable it does not mean that HBC want you to give it to them with the plastic bottles as they can only except certain things.

Re: Weekly Bin Collections
 

Mr Pickles, who if memory serves had little to do with the introduction of fortnightly collections.

It also served as a sweetening news story on the day we were told to open our doors to benefit tourists.

Re: Weekly Bin Collections
 

I haven't had chance to read the thread so apologies. This is about two things, money and recycling.

1) There is a definite link between recycling and fortnightly collections so it saves the environment and provides raw materials for the Council to sell, albeit the prices have gone down.

2) Whinney Hill will fill up quicker (30 years left so within my lifetime if I live that long) and it will be filled by all the surrounding authorities who will bring debris and traffic particularly to those areas nearby.

3) Landfill charges are rising by the tonne as a result. Regulation and market forces.

4) European Landfill Tax's are rising steeply. The more you deposit the more you to pay. The Tories wanted to make each local authority (rather than UK govt which pays all EU fines as now) liable for waste above the permitted allowance. I argued in Parliament in Committee and in the Commons against this (surprisingly) the ministers gave way. The law says Hyndburn must increase its recycling from 38% to 50% and it is obvious why this is so.

5) The Council's current wagons run 5 full days. So 5 new wagons at £150,000 each would be required - £750,000. The recycling would continue so no saving there. Each wagon requires a crew of 5 costing around £100,000 each per year plus holiday and sickness cover. Thats a further £600k on the Council Tax every year OR £20 each per year excluding vehicles (another £4 over 8 years inc interest?). Options that might save money may be weekend collections, night collections but that would bring in higher costs, wagon wear out and problems around access such as for the elderley.

Considering on average most people pay around £240 to Hyndburn Council per year, thats a 10% Council Tax increase. Add the increased tipping costs of £100k which I have not included?

Doesn't stack up no matter how convenient or appealing. The Governments £250m may provide the first £500k or so to Hyndburn Council (354 authorities - many large unitaries) but leaves a huge bill thereafter.

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So are you saying that when we changed to fortnightly collections we sold 5 wagons and sacked 30 refuse disposal officers (bin men).

Stick to politics maths is not your strong point.:p

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Well that's one thing you've got right Ken if I remember rightly wasn't it the Labour Government who introduced it:confused: As for benefit tourist, as we've seen very little HMG can do about it, but at least we know Bernard is still quite happy with it;)

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Beni you must realise that any politician maneuvers the figures to suit their own argument, this is one skill mastered by all politicians of all parties very early on in their political careers, how do you expect Joe Public would react if politicians decided to start telling the whole truth the whole of the time;)

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I agree with everything you said Graham except the 10% council tax rise.

It might be a 10% rise in what Hyndburn get but not on our overall council tax bill, the majority of which Hyndburn does not get and LCC, fire and police do.

Was that a mistake or using statistics to make the governments idea look much worse for the residents of Hyndburn?

What would be the real figure 2% or 3%.

Whatever the figure is we dont need it as there is nothing wrong with the current collections.

I would prefer the money was spent making recycling easier by have mixed recycling and sorted after collection like in the Ribble Valley I linked to above. If they can do it are they smarter than HBC.

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Well, Beni, you stick to something else because even the simplest of maths seems to evade you. Yep, we have a fortnightly collection and in between - the alternate week - we have the recyclable collection. In other words, the same number of men working the same number of wagons.

What an idiot!

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I knew someone would fall in the trap but I would not have thought in a million years It would be you.

What an idiot.

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Tealeaf is right and so is Neil.

When recycling came in we shifted half the staff from one to t'other. Basic math.

Defra gave HBC (Labour in fact in that one year we had in in 2002) £1m to buy wagons and some 50,000 bins, 35,000 boxes and all the sacks. It cost a bit extra and I remember in the Labour Group being worried about the chips in the boxes and bins. They could only record addresses to help manage collection. The opposition told the press something else, that the Council were spying on people. Annoying as it wasnt true but rather than question us, some loony's just ran off into right field thinking they were savingthe planet from big brother. Feel like I feel like I am writing memoirs but we were worried about these people!

There was extra cost which has diminished and that was the inefficiency you get in the adjustment period of the 40% recycling and how to manage collection, storage and sell on.

Neil is also right in that the media will say HBC Council Tax rise would be 10% however 85% of Council Tax is LCC Police and Fire so the actual overal rise would be £25 on £1200 or so.

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I knew is was a tiny amount that HBC get but had forgotten it was as low as 15%.

HBC probably get 85% of the hassle from residents and only actually get 15% of the money. On your figure of £1200 council tax HBC only get £180. I find those figures very annoying and wish HBC got more money to improve our borough.

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Yes Neil....I found that out the hard way.
I put some styrene trays which had the recycle logo on them, into my plastic recyclables and they were left behind by the collection guys with a note to say that HBC didn't accept them.
We were down in Wales in August and the collectors there took the same kind of material......they also took tetra paks.

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I was one of the people who supported a Unitary Authority at the same time as Blackburn and Blackpool took the step into independence, okay we would have had to merge with another neighbouring authority, but at least we would know that whatever money raised from Council tax, 100% less possible police costs would be spent here on things that matter to us, not Lancaster Morecambe, Preston etc, being in the pecking order too