A Pain In The Bum

[Jordyboy9]

I am finding things rather frustrating in regards to re- cycling,in my day you threw everything in the bin it was taken away,job done, now i have bin for this bin for that and having to clean my dogs tins before binning them, i spoke to someone who had worked with refuse disposal for 13 years, and he told me our council does not have the facilitys and everything still gets dumped together,anyone got any thoughts on this?

[janbee]

I've heard that too. We have to separate plastic bottles, glass, cardboard, paper but I was told that it all got shoved in together at the depot.

[ummmm]

I hate it too but now I only fill one binbag a week.

Cleaning out the cans is to prevent vermin.

[237SJ]

I`m getting really fed up with picking up rubbish from the lawn that the foxes have brought here from other peoples` recycling bins. This morning I have a manky, bacteria ridden piece of plastic from a supermarket chicken that I have to pick up off the front lawn. On a windy day, there is stuff strewn everywhere from recycling boxes that people leave outside.

[janbee]

Fortunately we get our recycling and normal rubbish collected every day but lately, they've been on strike so it's piling up. As we've had really windy weather over the past few days, there's rubbish etc everywhere. The local foxes, cats and seagulls don't help. They scatter their leftovers all over the place.

[237SJ]

I`m not sure that it goes into one heap. Here, we have four different council lorries come around every week for each type of recycling. I`m sure the council wouldn`t spend all of that money doing that if it all went into one place.

[Prudie]

I've heard that too jordy. I know it's my imagination but we seem to make twice as much rubbish as we used to when it all went in a bin bag. I'm OK with it all except the food - I do it but find it disgusting

[Old_Geezer]

I also think much of it is a nonsense. I see the guy collecting from the bins at work and shoving all in one bag. I'm sure the intent is all very well but domestic buildings were never designed to have & use umpteen bins. Folk used to separate some things anyway, such as glass and papers. I feel it is likely most of the rest could be mechanically/electrically/computerise sorted at the depot if they were that keen, thus avoiding inconvenience. But it's a case of being seen to be trying no matter what inconvenience one can impose and claim it's your citizen's duty and you must not let the side down. Typical legitimate protest control. A secondary problem for me is the reverse of your own. Landfill bin emptying day comes around and I have to waste 2/3rds (say) of my plastic bag as it isn't filled. And that is combined with the stress of ensuring one doesn't miss a pick-up as the council won't bother coming again for another 14 days, and not all stuff is fragrance free.

[Hypognosis]

@Jordyboy9

Presumably, if you ring your local council's waste disposal section, you'll get the more PC reply that all waste is segregated.

My area's council is running out of landfill capacity (I forget whise powers forbid them to expand capacity) so it is imperative to recycle as much as possible.

Short of naming the insider or how long they'd worked there, you could report what he told you to his HQ and see if they are able to respond, in writing, to the contrary. A minor scoop for you, if they can't claim it was a wind-up.

[paddywak]

My main gripe is with paper,you have one group saying shred anything that may identify you and your details and the recycing people saying not to put shredded paper in your recycling bin as their machines aren't designed to handle shredded paper and it clogs them up.Well as far as I'm concerned they can like it or lump it,I shred my papers they go in the recycling bin and if it clogs their machines it's hard luck, I was quite happy when everything went in one bin.

[237SJ]

http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/services/waste_and_recycling/reuse_and_recycle/what_happens_to_your_recycling.htm

[Old_Geezer]

BTW it is possible all councils insist of separation of as much as they think the public will endure, but not all have the contracts in place to get rid of the different types of potential recycling. One wonders if the cost is worth the benefit anyway.

[Old_Geezer]

"My area's council is running out of landfill capacity (I forget whise powers forbid them to expand capacity) so it is imperative to recycle as much as possible."

Suggest to them that once full they drive into London and dump it outside No. 10.

[retrocop]

I remember about 6 years ago just after Christmas/new year I took boxes of empty bottles to the recycling skips in a road set aside for bins in my local Sainsbury car park. The bin lorry was already there to empty all the bottle bins. Each bin was quite large and was supposed to have different coloured glass bottles in each. Half the access road was awash with cartons and carrier bags full of empty bottles as the official bins (sizeable) were all full. A young council lad just invited me to leave my bottles on e d with the rest. They had emptied one bin into the separate compartment of the lorry and continue to use that bin to put any and every coloured bottle in it and fill up the various several compartments in the lorry. After that I never bothered to visit each bin separating my different coloured glass. I also saw a news report on TV a year or so back saying that Firms with contracts to recycle were overwhelmed with all the recycled material and could not sort it. It lay in vast hangar type buildings stacked to the roof until the government paid China to take it from us in large container vessels.Most councils do not have the capability to fully recycle I believe.

[chaptazbru2]

paddywak - we've been able to put shredded paper into our recycling bins for years now !

I don't want any more bins, they are huge and I only have a small garden area !

[mikey4444]

I can only speak for my local Council here in Swansea. The take re-cycling seriously. We can now only leave 3 black bags (non-recyclable refuse) out every two weeks. In the intervening weeks. it pink bags for plastic, and green bags for bottle, tins, paper-cardboard. It seems to be working OK so far.

[Caran]

Recently our large recycling centre has removed the clear, green and brown glass skips and replaced them with one marked all glass. So no need to separate different coloured bottles anymore.